Sonic Mania The Phantom Bullet
by Retro David
Summary: Almost a year has passed since SAO was cleared, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Kirito log into the world of Gun Gale Online to investigate an incident involving Death Gun. They all enter the Buller of Bullets along with a new friend named Sinon to investigate. Will they capture Death Gun and bring him in, or will he continue to wreak havoc in the virtual world? Spoilers for SAO 2.
1. Enter Death Gun

In the world of Gun Gale Online, an MMO livestream for the upcoming BoB/Bullet of Bullets, comes on at a weapon shop.

XeXeed: People seem to ignore the fact that agility is the ultimate stat in this game. Not saying it's not important. A combination of quick firing and evasion certainly makes for a strong build. That's how it always is. Up until now, that is. To the speed freaks who maybe spent eight months raising AGI's, I have two words. My condolences.

Everyone: What?!

Host: As expected, the top player of Gun Gale Online, which is known to be the hardest VRMMO of all time, has a pretty unique take on the matter.

XeXeed: Guess being a guest on MMO Stream is a once in a lifetime chance, huh?

Host: I'm sure you're exaggerating. You're aiming to win the Bullet of Bullets again this year, right?

XeXeed: Absolutely. I'm participating in it, so I'll be aiming for the top.

Everyone: No way!

Yamikaze: You know, XeXeed, BoB is a tournament having to do with solo encounters, right? It's not like the same result will happen every time, so I kind of question your results.

XeXeed: Still, the results to highlight the weakness of the game. You're an AGI type so you would feel compelled to disagree. I actually agree that AGI builds with a powerful automatic was the optimal play style up until now. However, it's natural for an MMO's metagame to evolve. In games with a level up system, stats can't normally be reallocated, which makes it crucial to think ahead when allocating points. The strongest play style in one level range may not be the best in the next. Now, new guns would require higher STR and accuracy bonuses to actually equip them.

Gun User 1: Man, and XeXeed was the one who said AGI's were the best.

Gun User 2: Darn. He screwed us over.

A player with a cloak and a metal skull holding a gun appears.

Death Gun: XeXeed! You fraud. It's time for you to be judged by the face of true power!

A bunch of players start laughing. Then, Death Gun shoots his gun in XeXeed's face at the monitor.

XeXeed: As I said before, when it comes down to that, the players actual skills are what... Huh?

XeXeed starts feeling his heart stop in the real world and he gets disconnected.

Host: It seems like XeXeed has been disconnected. I'm sure this will be resolved momentarily, so don't go anywhere!

All of the players in the shop look at Death Gun wondering what happened.

Death Gun: This is true power, and true strength! All of you will do well to keep this name in your memories! Fear the name and the gun I wield! Death Gun!

A month later, back in the real world, almost a year has passed since Sword Art Online was cleared. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were chilling out at South Island.

Sonic: Man. Can't believe it's been almost a year since that death game finished.

Tails: Yeah. The Seed is still doing great. So many VR games.

Knuckles: I know. Wonder what the future will be.

Tails: Who knows? Maybe we should go and visit Kirito. What do you guys think?

Sonic: Yeah. That's a great idea. It's been a while since we payed a visit to Japan. Let's go!

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles jump into the Tornado and they fly off to Japan. Asuna walks down a street in Tokyo.

Asuna: I wonder what the difference is between the real world and the virtual one.

Kazuto: It's the amount of data.

Asuna: Oh! My gosh you scared me.

Kazuto: This is the right place and time, right?

Asuna: Guess I was moving on autopilot. Well, hi Kirito.

Kazuto: Don't call me that here. Hi Asuna.

Kazuto continues to look at her.

Asuna: What's wrong?

Kazuto: Oh, well, you actually look nice in those clothes. It takes me back.

Asuna: Oh, well I don't have my rapier with me. I see you're wearing all black today.

Kazuto: Well, Sugu threw all my clothes into the wash this morning, so this was all I had.

Asuna: Exactly what you get for letting it all piled up! So today, we're looking old fashioned. What a coincidence.

Kazuto: We've been dating for a year so of course something like this would happen sooner or later.

Asuna: I thought you were gonna say, sure is. Now let's go.

Kazuto: Ok.

They walk down the Imperial Palace.

Kazuto: Don't you think the Imperial Palace seems interesting?

Asuna: How is that?

Kazuto: It stretches 2 kilometers north to south, and 1.5 kilometers east to west. So it covers 20 percent of Chiyoda City. There are no railways or tunnels under it, and it is a no-fly zone. It's basically a massive space that's completely off limits, right in the middle of Tokyo. And it's not just physically isolated. No info gets in or out either. See the security cameras over there? There is a peculiar network system set up here that's inaccessible from the outside.

Asuna: That camera has a strange look to it.

Kazuto: Yeah. Even though it's in the middle of Tokyo, it's in an isolated world of its own. Actually, I think that's going a bit too far.

Asuna: Maybe just a bit.

They continue walking down the park.

Asuna: Wow!

Kazuto: So, this is what's left of Edo Castle's inner citadel.

Asuna: Let's go!

They walk down the path, and they get a small family to take a picture of them. At sunset, the young couple sits down at a bench.

Asuna: Hey, remember that career survey we had to fill out? What do you want to do in the future?

Kazuto: I'm thinking about wanting to get into the VR development industry.

Asuna: VR development? What type of games are you going to make?

Kazuto: I'm not making any games. I'm wanting to make some machines that can replace our current full-dive tech. I'm trying to learn by browsing the tech forums, but it's pretty hard to translate.

Asuna: It would be nice if we would always be together. I wish Yui was here too.

Kazuto: When VR comes more readily accessible, I'll be able to bring Yui here in the real world, and we'll be able to live together as a family. But right now, the data requirements are too great.

Asuna: You said something about that earlier, right? You said that the virtual and real world are different depending of the amount of data? What does that mean?

Kazuto: Well, holding hands in a game like ALO, is different than holding hands in the real world, right?

Asuna: Oh yeah. Holding hands like this means so much more. So that's what you mean by data, right?

Kazuto: Yeah, but maybe it will be possible to stimulate the human touch and pulse. You think you would be able to tell the difference between the person and their avatar?

Asuna: Yeah. Only if it's you though.

Kazuto: Huh?

Asuna: It's not just touch. It's sound, taste, and so on, right? So if the AmuSphere as it is now had an artificial reality function...

Kazuto: That's right. You would be able to tell the difference the moment you see or touch anything. But if there is a technology breakthrough someday that lets us have large amounts of sensory info at any time in the real world,

Asuna: We would be able to overcome the boundaries of the world and always be with Yui. There'll be a time when we can do that, right?

Kazuto: Of course.

Asuna: I want you to make that happen, ok?

Kazuto: Alright. I promise.

Asuna leans on Kirito and rests on his shoulders. A couple of hours earlier, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles pay a visit to Kazuto's place. They knock on the door, and he answers.

Kazuto: Hello?

Sonic: Hey Kiri... I mean Kazuto!

Kazuto: Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles? It's been a while. What are you guys doing here?

Knuckles: Thought we'd wanna meet with you. Where's Suguha?

Kazuto: She's at Kendo practice. I'm about to meet up with Kikuoka about something.

Tails: Kikuoka? You mean Chrysheight?

Kazuto: Yeah. You guys wanna come with?

Sonic: Yeah.

Kazuto: So, where are Mighty and Ray?

Sonic: They are out adventuring or something. We'll meet you at the place.

Kazuto: Alright.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles run over to the restaurant where they will meet Seijirou Kikuoka. When Kazuto arrives, they head inside.

Waiter: Welcome.

Kikuoka: Hey, Kirito. Over here!

They walk over to the table.

Tails: Hey Chrysheight... I mean, Mr. Kikuoka.

Kikuoka: I see that you brought Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles here. So have a seat guys, I'll treat you all to something.

Kazuto: I guess I'll take you up on that offer then.

Sonic: You alright Kazuto? You don't look to happy.

Kikuoka: Yeah, just talk like we do in ALO.

Kazuto: Alright then.

Kazuto tries to order something.

Kazuto: Umm, I'll take a parfait au chocolat, a mille feuille aux framboises, and a hazelnut latte.

Sonic: I'll have an iced coffee.

Tails: I think I'll take a cheesecake.

Knuckles: I'll just have an espresso.

They order their food and drinks.

Kikuoka: I'm sorry for asking you to come here, Kirito, and I also didn't expect you to bring friends along either.

Kazuto: If you really mean that, then don't drag me out in a place like Ginza. Also, don't call me by that name in public!

Kikuoka: Now that's just cold. And wasn't I the first get by your side when you woke up in the hospital about a year ago?

Kazuto gets a flashback of when he woke up after the game was cleared. As leader of the task force, Seijirou Kikuoka of the virtual department, was the first to visit Kazuto when he woke up.

Kazuto: So, what's going on? We told you everything about SAO, right?

Kikuoka: Actually, no. It's something else. Here look at this.

He hands them a tablet, showing a news article about a man who died while playing a VR game.

Tails: Who is that?

Kikuoka: It was last month, I believe on November 14th. A landlady of a certain apartment in Nakano City has noticed a foul stench while cleaning. She release the electronic lock and looked inside to investigate. When she looked, she saw that 26 year old, Tamotsu Shigemura, died. He was dead for five and a half days. The room was a mess but it seems like it wasn't broken into, and the corpse was lying sideways onto the bed, and on its head.

Sonic: He died when using the AmuSphere?

Kikuoka: Yes. It was considered a freak accident and an autopsy was performed. The cause of the death seemed to have been heart failure.

Kazuto: So his heart just stopped? How'd that happen?

Kikuoka: That's what we're trying to find out.

Waiter: Sorry for the wait.

The waiter gives them their food and drinks they ordered.

Kikuoka: So apparently, too much time has passed since he died, and because there wasn't much reason to suspect the foul play, the autopsy wasn't very thorough. However, we believe that he was logged in for two days without eating anything.

Tails: Woah.

Sonic: That's just odd.

Kazuto: So what's the significance of this case?

Kikuoka: The game downloaded was called Gun Gale Online, GGO for short. Do you guys know of it?

Kazuto: Yes.

Tails: I've heard about it. It's the only MMO in Japan with pro players.

Kikuoka: Well, he apparently won first place in a ranking tournament that was held in October. He was called XeXeed.

Knuckles: So he died when playing GGO?

Kikuoka: Not exactly. He made an appearance on a TV program called MMO Stream with his game avatar. We know that from the logs. Everything I say is still not confirmed yet, but there is a blogger who wrote about a strange incident that occurred in the game just around the time of his death.

Tails: What happened?

Kikuoka: He said that around that time, there was a player acting strange at a certain bar, and weapon shop. He pointed a gun at the TV that was showing XeXeeD, and he said something about judgement, and he shot his gun. Another player who has there has captured the audio and uploaded it to a video site. There were time stamps in JST on the recording that indicate the gunshot and Shigamura's sudden disappearance from the TV program were practically simultaneous.

Kazuto: Isn't that just a coincidence?

Sonic: I bet that guy who shot his gun at the monitor has something to do with his death.

Kikuoka: This wasn't the only incident though.

Kazuto: What?!

Tails: Are you serious?! What happened?!

Kikuoka: The second one occurred on November 28th, somewhere in Saitama City. Another dead body was found, this time on the second floor of an apartment. When a newspaper solicitor looked inside, they found a dead man wearing an AmuSphere, and a foul stench.

A few people start looking at them. One of them cough trying to get Kikuoka to stop.

Kazuto: Huh?

Sonic: Yeah. Kikuoka, this wasn't a good place to talk.

Kikuoka: Well, I'll hold off on the corpse's condition, but the cause of the death was also heart failure. He was also playing GGO. His handle was Lightly Salted Roe. The incident took place in the game, at the time of his death, he was apparently at the central plaza of the SBC Glocken with his squadron, like a guild, it seems for gathering. A player came from nowhere and shot him.

Kazuto: Was it the same player as the one who shot XeXeeD?

Kikuoka: Most likely. Just like before, he said something about judgement and power, and he proceeded to declare his handle.

Tails: What is this players name?

Kikuoka: Death Gun.

Kazuto: Death Gun?

Sonic: You've gotta be kidding me.

Kazuto: Are you sure that the deaths were caused by heart failures? There wasn't any brain damage right?

Tails: What? There's no way. That's not the NerveGear.

Kikuoka: I was actually concerned about that too. But the person who performed the autopsy has confirmed that there were no issues with brain damage. But while the NerveGear emitted microwaves powerful enough to burn out transmitters and destroy part of the brain, the AmuSphere's design isn't capable of radiation that strong and deadly, or so the developers say.

Knuckles: Did the AmuSphere just stop the heart?

Kazuto: To be honest, you seem like you're being too proactive. Considering how these are just rumors and coincidences.

Kikuoka: I think there's a 90 percent chance that's all there is to it. So that's why I ask this hypothetically. Do you think it's possible to stop a players heart by shooting them in game?

A bunch of thoughts race through their heads about Death Gun.

Tails: I really doubt that.

Sonic: There's no way.

Kazuto: It could be possible, but if we assume that this Death Gun was somehow able to send some sort of signal to XeXeeD's and Lightly Salted Roe's AmuSpheres, like a sensation that can stop the heart, or maybe the taste, smell, or sound?

Kikuoka: Sensory information.

Tails: Sensory information?

Kazuto: Hold on a second. You thought all this through, haven't you? Well I don't think I could contribute to anything you geniuses haven't already thought of.

Sonic: Is that true Kikuoka?

Kikuoka: No. You've got it all wrong. I wouldn't just waste your time just like that.

Kazuto: I'm leaving.

He stands up and begins to walk away.

Kikuoka: I don't think it's possible for an AmuSphere to stop a players heart.

Kazuto: The gunshots and deaths were all just a coincidence.

Kikuoka: Hey, don't leave yet. I could order something else if you'd like. I'm actually relieved to hear you reach that conclusion. The truth is that I agree with you.

Sonic: Yeah, me too.

Tails: There's no way the two real deaths weren't caused by virtual gunshots.

Kikuoka: I have a favor to ask of you four. Would you dive into Gun Gale Online to make contact with Death Gun?

Kazuto: So you're telling us to get shot by him?

Kikuoka: Umm.

Kazuto: As if I would! What would you even do if something happened?!

Kikuoka: Hold on! We agreed that he couldn't have actually killed them, right?! But, Death Gun seems to have a strict criteria with his targets.

Tails: I think I agree with Kikuoka. There could be something more than just a coincidence.

Kazuto: A criteria. Alright, fine.

He sits back down.

Sonic: So tell us about XeXeeD and Lightly Salted Roe.

Kikuoka: Well, they were both well-known, top players. So maybe he'll only target those who are well-known. If it's you who Kayaba knows as the strongest...

Kazuto: GGO isn't that easy of a game! It's about teaming with pro's you know!

Tails: You're right about that, Kazuto. What do you think makes a pro?

Kazuto: Well, that's how is sounds exactly. GGO is the only VRMMO that has a game currency conversion system.

Sonic: Game currency conversion? What's that?

Tails: In other words, you can exchange game currency for real money. So pro's are the guys making money every month as they play GGO.

Kazuto: I heard that the top players are earning anywhere from 200,000 to 300,000 yen a month. Besides, the best GGO players put in time and effort that's leagues beyond players from other games. So as if I'd stand a chance against them. Maybe Sonic and his friends can, but I don't think I can. So ask them.

Kikuoka: Wait, hold on! There's nobody else to ask except you guys. If you're hesitant about going against pros, then why don't we compensate you in the name of our partnership? This much.

He holds three fingers out.

Kazuto: So why are you so worked up about this? It's just a typical rumor on the internet, right?

Tails: Maybe not.

Kikuoka: Well, my superiors are very concerned about the matter. Full-dive technology's influence is in the immediate attention of pretty much every field nowadays. We want to address this before those trying to regulate it try to take advantage of it. We want the facts. Does that answer satisfy you, Kazuto?

Kazuto: Why can't we just contact the game admins.

Tails: We could, but the admins are in the US, so it could take a while for them to respond.

Kikuoka: Ever since the Seed was released, all sorts of VR worlds have sprouted forth. So if we are going to catch Death Gun, the only way to do so is to make contact with him in game. We will take the utmost care to ensure your safety. We're not asking you guys to get shot. You guys just need to give a judgement based on what you see. Will you guys do it?

Sonic: I'll do it!

Tails: Yeah! I'm in too!

Knuckles: I'll go as well.

Kazuto: Fine I'll do it. I have somewhere to be right now, so I have to leave.

Sonic: Alright, we'll get going as well, see you later Kazuto.

Around the time of SAO, 4,000 people have lost their lives and people try to forget about it, including Kazuto. But to him, it's like someone's forcing him to remember.

Back to when Kazuto and Asuna go on their date.

Asuna: I think I understand why you brought me here now.

Kazuto: You do?

Asuna: Yeah. If the world's composed in an axis called time, and a plane called space, the center of Tokyo... No, the center of the real world to us is here. And because of the Seed, the central axis of the ever-expanding virtual world is the castle that only exists in our memories, right? That's why the sunset here is beautiful and nostalgic.

Kazuto: Yeah, you're right. I've realized something after hearing your words just now.

Asuna: About what?

Kazuto: Aincrad. Its structure and design might have symbolized the space-time continuum. But in that case, the world that Kayaba was trying to make would have eventually dwindled, converged, and ultimately disappeared.

Asuna: But a certain swordsman and hedgehog just ruined those plans without seeing it to the end.

Kazuto: Oh. Well I'm sorry for that vice-commander.

They both laugh.

Kazuto: It still had to be done, though.

Asuna: You're right.

Kazuto: Hey, Asuna.

Asuna: What is it?

Kazuto: Umm. Nevermind. It's getting late so we should head home.

Asuna: Ok. let's come back sometime and bring everyone. It would be fun to have lunch at the grass over there.

Kazuto: Yeah. Once it's spring.

Meanwhile, in Gun Gale Online, a girl with blue hair, and wielding a sniper rifle, aims at some marching players.

Sinon: I'm in position.

Dyne: Roger that. The enemies made no change in course or speed.

Sinon: The distance from you is 400. From here is 1,500.

Dyne: That's pretty far. Are you sure you can make it?

Sinon: Of course I can.

Dyne: Well, go for it. It's all up to you, Sinon.

Sinon: Roger.

She gets ready to snipe.

Sinon: This pressure, and anxiety, and this fear. A distance of 1,500? It's like throwing a paper ball in a waste basket. Compared to that time.

She shoots her gun, killing one of the players.

Sinon: What's next?


	2. Sinon

A few months earlier, Sinon fights a boss monster in the SBC Glocken Underground Ruins. She shoots it a bunch of times with her sniper rifle. She aims for its weak spot on its head, shooting it. As it gets defeated and disappears, she gets a sniper rifle as a reward, known as the PGM Ultima Ratio Hecate II.

Sinon: Hecate? That's named after the goddess of death.

A few months later, Sinon, along with a party of players show up to get ready to ambush some players who will approach. Mighty the Armadillo, and Ray the Flying Squirrel are also with them.

Ginrou: Hey Dyne. Are they really coming?

Dyne: I'm sure of it. I've confirmed their route myself. They'll probably get delayed by a bunch of mobs or something. At any rate, we'll be getting more loot, so quit whining.

Mighty: They're not gonna easily shoot me. Especially since I have a powerful shell.

Ray: I wish Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were here.

Mighty: Believe me, they would love this game.

Dyne: Hey. You both started playing just recently, right?

Mighty: Yeah, we converted over from ALO.

Dyne: Nice.

Jin: Say, Dyne. Aren't today's targets the same as the ones from last week? They could have changed routes as a precaution.

Dyne: Well, monster hunter squadrons don't mind bleeding cash now and then as long as they're raking it even faster. They're pretty much the perfect prey for an anti-personnel squadron like us. Pretty much the same as monsters, moving by set algorithms.

Mighty: I can see why GGO is a hard game. Like ALO, it's PVP focused. But ALO isn't really that bad.

Dyne: Well everyone in this game is competing for money in the real world. This is of course the only VRMMO with a currency conversion system, after all. And the guys we're up against usually have laser guns which are slower than normal weapons. With our protective fields, this should be like taking candy from a baby.

Ray: I don't know. Maybe Jin is right. They could be planning something.

Dyne: It's not like they've prepared some anti-personnel firearms so soon. I think that a secondary firearm could be all they got. Besides, we have GGO's top ranked sniper here.

Ray: Oh yeah. Sinon, right?

Mighty: She seems really quiet.

Dyne: Well, she's like that most of the time. Our plan is foolproof, right Sinon?

Sinon: Yeah.

Ginrou: Guess that's not something to complain about. With Sinon's sniping, Mighty's powerful shell, and Ray's gliding power, this could be a cakewalk.

Dyne: Ahem. That's the gist of it.

Ginrou: Well, I mean if Sinocchi misses...

Sinon: Hmm?

Ginrou: You guys can just rest easy knowing that I got her back during the 60 seconds she can be detected by the enemy, so she can reposition herself.

The other guys start sighing.

Mighty: What's with him all of a sudden?

Ray: I actually feel confident since Sinon is here.

Ginrou: Hey Sinocchi. Are you free after this? I know a nicely stocked gun shop that I found the other day. How about you join me for a cup of tea and we check it out?

Mighty starts whispering in Ray's ear.

Mighty: He reminds me of Klein.

Ray: Yeah.

Sinon: Sorry, Ginrou. I have stuff to do in the real world, so...

Ginrou: Oh, I see. You're a student right? Got a report to finish or something?

Sinon: Well...

Mighty: You gonna stop hitting on her or what?

Jin: You know it's rude to pry into real world business like that.

Miso: Yeah, and even if you've been flying solo for a while, you shouldn't be so pushy.

Ginrou: What are you guys talking about? It's not like you guys are better off than I am!

Dyne: Alright guys, stop fooling around.

Arashi: Here they come.

Dyne: It's about time.

Dyne looks through his binoculars and see's the party, along with a robot with them.

Dyne: That's them alright. There's 7 of them, plus it looks like they got a robot with them.

Mighty: Robot? What do you mean?

Dyne: It looks like Sonic.

Ray: Sonic?! Is that Metal Sonic?!

Dyne: Metal Sonic?

Mighty: Metal Sonic was created by Dr. Robotnik in order to match the real Sonic's abilities.

Sinon opens her sniper scope.

Sinon: The four in the front have laser guns, another has a large-caliber laser rifle, and one with a minimi. He'll be the one to go down first. Metal Sonic doesn't seem have anything.

Ray: Well, he was created by Robotnik and he does have Sonic's abilities.

Dyne: But what about the big guy with the mantle? I can't see any of his weaponry.

Ginrou: Mantle?

Dyne: Yeah.

Ginrou: Could that be him? The rumored Death Gun?

Mighty: Death Gun?

Dyne: As if. They're called rumors for a reason. He must be a porter who put all his points into strength. He must be carrying their loot, ammo, and energy packs. You guys can ignore him in combat.

Mighty: But, who is Death Gun?

Dyne: We'll explain later.

Sinon: I have a bad feeling about the big guy in the cloak. I think we should target him, first.

Dyne: But, he's not clearly a huge threat.

Ray: I don't know. I think Sinon should shoot him first.

Sinon: I may not be certain, but it's pretty unsettling having someone like him to question with in the mix.

Dyne: I see your point but we know the Minimi's gonna be a problem, right?

Mighty: But don't forget, Metal Sonic too.

Dyne: Yeah. But it would be a mess if the guys with blasters closed in while we're dealing with them.

Sinon: Then I guess I'll take out the guy with the Minimi first. If possible, I'll take out the guy with the mantle as well. And after that, I'll take down Metal Sonic.

Mighty: I'm pretty sure that Metal Sonic would escape as soon as he detects a bullet coming. Let me and Ray handle him.

Sinon: Alright then.

Dyne: Ok, we'll advance to the shadow of the building ahead of us and wait for the enemy as planned. Sinon, Mighty, Ray, you guys notify us if there are any changes in the situation. Get ready to attack on my signal.

Sinon: Roger.

Dyne: Alright, let's move out.

Dyne's team leaves Sinon, Mighty, and Ray.

Sinon gets ready to snipe.

Ray: Maybe after this, we should get some cream soda from Mirage Saloon Zone back in the real world.

Mighty: Yeah. But besides that, what's Metal Sonic even doing with some players?

Ray: I'm not sure. Maybe he just teamed up with them so he can get the chaos emerald we have?

Mighty: We only have one now. All of the other emeralds went missing.

Sinon: Guys, focus.

Ray: Alright.

Dyne: Ok. We're in position.

Sinon: Copy that.

Dyne: The enemy's made no change in course or speed.

Sinon: The distance from you guys is 400 meters. From here, it's 1,500.

Dyne: That's pretty long. You sure you can do it?

Sinon: It's no problem for me.

Dyne: Alright, start sniping. It's all up to you Sinon.

Sinon: Roger.

She gets ready to shoot the player with the Minimi.

Sinon: This pressure, the anxiety, the fear... 1,500 meters away? That's like throwing a paper ball into a waste basket. Yes. Compared to that time.

As soon as the bullet circle aims for the Minimi gunners head, she shoots with her sniper rifle, killing him.

Sinon: Next.

She aims for the big man in the cloak, but as soon as he saw the bullet line, he dodges.

Mighty: Darn. He dodged it.

Sinon: Nowhere else to relocate to. Dyne, come in. The first objective is down. The second one failed.

Dyne: Roger that. You three stand by. Everyone else, go!

Dyne's men get in position ready to shoot, but the big man takes off his cloak and has a minigun with him.

Sinon: What?! Is that a minigun?!

Mighty: So they brought the big guns with them?!

Behemoth takes out his minigun, ready to attack. Ginrou and Arashi move in and take down the two laser guns. They both have the protection field on.

Ginrou: Guess they're a bunch of noobs after all.

Ginrou gets taken out by Behemoth's minigun. He starts smirking.

Ray: Great. We have a guy with a huge gun, and Metal Sonic to deal with!

Metal Sonic starts flying up to Mighty, Ray, and Sinon's location.

Mighty: He's coming this way! Let's go!

They leave the positon and go to Dyne's team.

Sinon: That smirk. He has the strength to laugh, even on a battlefield. He's mine for the killing.

Dyne and Miso continue attacking their enemies.

Dyne: Don't let him get any closer!

Miso: Roger!

They continue firing their guns, at the wall Behemoth is hiding behind.

Dyne: Darn! There's no other cover to run to!

Sinon, Mighty, and Ray run in. They dodge the shots fired by the guy with the laser rifle, Metal Sonic, and Behemoth.

Dyne: Sinon!

Jin: Mighty! Ray!

Mighty: It's alright guys! We're here!

Dyne: They hired a bodyguard.

Sinon: Bodyguard?

Dyne: That guy with the minigun. It's Behemoth. He's a real bruiser.

Ray: They even hired Metal Sonic as well to speed things along!

Sinon: If we keep hiding like this, we'll be wiped out in no time. The minigun should be running low on ammo by now. If we all attack together, he might hesitate in using rapid fire. Jin, Miso, you flank from the left. Dyne and I will swing by the right, Arashi will back us up from here. Mighty, Ray, you two take care of Metal Sonic.

Dyne: We can't win though. There are still three guys with blasters left. If you just charge in, the protective field won't hold.

Sinon: Auto fire on blasters is slower than on firearms. So we can dodge half of it.

Mighty: And I can deflect the bullets with my shell.

Dyne: But that's impossible! Even if we tried, the minigun will just shred us! We should best give up. Rather than letting them brag about getting the kill, let's log out.

Sinon: Logging out won't really let us escape that easily.

Mighty: She's right. It'll take too long.

Dyne: What's the big deal? It's just a game! Just charging out there is gonna get us all...

Sinon: Then die!

Dyne: Huh?!

Sinon grabs him by his shirt.

Sinon: Show that you at least have the courage to go all out in a game!

Dyne: Alright. Fine.

Sinon: I just need at least three seconds. Just keep the minigun guy occupied long enough so I can take him out.

Everyone: Ok.

Sinon: Good.

Mighty: Come on Ray! Let's go after Metal Sonic!

Ray: Got it!

Sinon: You guys split into two groups and catch him in a pincer.

Jin, Arashi, and Miso: Got it.

Sinon counts down with her fingers.

Sinon: 3, 2, 1, go!

Jin, Arashi, and Miso shoot at the blaster users, while Sinon and Dyne go after Behemoth, and Mighty and Ray go after Metal Sonic. Sinon shoots her automatic handgun at the laser guns, but they go back in cover, they then shoot at Sinon.

Sinon: Dyne! Cover me!

Dyne: Got it!

Sinon goes for cover and aims her sniper rifle at Behemoth. When she shoots, the bullet hits his glasses as he dodges. He smirks at Sinon and shoots at her but she dodges. Dyne shoots at Behemoth leaving two marks on his left shoulder. The laser shots break through his protective field and his HP hits yellow. Then he looks to Sinon for a brief moment and runs ahead to the laser gunners as they shoot him. As soon as they shoot him dead, a grenade gets thrown from Dyne, and it explodes, killing the two gunners. Behemoth is all that's left now.

Sinon: Not bad Dyne. If I can just get into his blind spot somehow...

She looks up to the tower.

Sinon: At that moment, he shouldn't be able to notice where I am.

Sinon runs to the tower and heads up the stairs. Meanwhile, Mighty and Ray fight against Metal Sonic. He uses his claws, but Mighty blocks them with his shell.

Mighty: You haven't changed a bit, haven't you?

Metal Sonic: *Beep Beep Beep*

Ray: You're gonna lose Metal! Just like you always did before!

Metal Sonic: *Beep Beep*

The robot charges in at Mighty, but he steps back, and then hits Metal Sonic with a huge rock.

Mighty: Too bad Sonic's not here.

Ray: Yeah. This would have been so much easier.

Metal Sonic: *Beep Beep Beep*

Mighty: You want the chaos emerald we have? Well, not a chance!

Mighty throws Ray up into the sky.

Metal Sonic: *Beep Beep*

Mighty: Come at me, fake Sonic!

Metal Sonic charges at Mighty. Suddenly, the robot gets knocked down by Ray's spin attack from the sky. Mighty and Ray continue to attack him until his HP goes to zero and he disappears.

Mighty: Yes!

Ray: We did it!

Mighty: Looks like all that's left is the big guy with the gun. Let's distract him while Sinon heads up the tower.

Ray: Good idea! Hey big guy with a gun!

Behemoth: Hmm?

Mighty uses his spindash at Behemoth knocking him back a little. Sinon continues to climb up the tower.

Sinon: He's strong enough to laugh on the battlefield. Once I kill him, I'll become...

She heads all the way to the top of the tower. She see's Mighty and Ray distracting Behemoth, giving her a chance to land a head shot at him. Suddenly, Behemoth aims his minigun at Sinon, but then she jumps.

Ray: Oh no!

Behemoth shoots her left leg and it comes apart.

Behemoth: Huh?

She continues to fall from the tower. Behemoth continues to shoot with his minigun and Sinon dodges it.

Behemoth: Come on!

Mighty punches Behemoth making him stop shooting.

Mighty: Now!

Sinon aims her sniper rifle at Behemoth, and shoots him in the head, killing him.

Ray: Way to go, Sinon!

Mighty: Great job!

Sinon: Same goes for you both as well. Did you both take down Metal Sonic?

Mighty: Yeah, we did.

Sinon: Great. Thank you for distracting Behemoth for me.

Ray: You're welcome. But, your leg.

Sinon: It's fine. It will regenerate.

Mighty: Ok. By the way, Ginrou said something about Death Gun. What does he mean by that?

A while later, Sinon logs out and puts her AmuSphere away. She reaches for the ceiling a bit.

Shino: I have to get stronger.

Meanwhile in ALO, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, along with Leafa, Lisbeth, and Silica were fighting against some enemies. A flower monster grabs onto Silica by her legs.

Silica: This won't be like last time!

The flower grows wings and flies up.

Silica: Ahhhh! Somebody help me!

Leafa: Hang on!

Leafa flies up to the tentacles and slashes them, making the enemy let go of Silica. Lisbeth smashes the enemy with her mace, Knuckles punches him, and Sonic and Tails both finish off the monster with a spindash. The enemy disappears.

Lisbeth: Yes!

Silica: Do we have all the materials?

Lisbeth: We found most of them, more or less.

Sonic: Glad we could help out, Liz.

Leafa: I'm also still good. Lisbeth's Smithy has done so much more for me, so I'm happy to help.

Tails: Same here.

Knuckles: Me too.

Lisbeth: Thanks guys. But we pretty much took them all out.

Tails: How about we wait a little while and let them respawn.

Lisbeth: Yeah. Let's do that.

They all look up and see Kirito and Asuna, sitting together on a plateau with Yui.

Lisbeth: Look at those two, all lovey-dovey. No shame at all.

Knuckles: If Amy was here, Sonic would just run away.

Tails: All I can say is that Amy is madly in love with Sonic and he just runs away.

Lisbeth: Really? Is that true, Sonic?

Sonic: Quiet.

Lisbeth: Well forget Sonic and Amy right now. Jeez, I bet they're always like this at both school and ALO.

Leafa: They're like that at school, too?

Silica: They sure are.

Sonic: Hey Liz, Silica? No offense but you both sound like you're jealous.

Lisbeth: Jealous? What do you mean by that?! We're not jealous!

Leafa: I think that Sonic is right. It's the way you both sound.

Tails: Well, maybe they're more like a "those two should find a room" sort of thing. They're like this all the time?

Lisbeth: Pretty much.

They all start laughing. Yui flies up onto Asuna's hand and she rubs her tiny head. She puts her daughter on her shoulder. Kirito lies on the grass looking at New Aincrad up in the sky, and thinking about Death Gun.

Kirito: Hey, Asuna. I have something to tell you.

Asuna: Huh? What's wrong?


	3. The Dark Past

In the real world, Shino Asada, A.K.A Sinon, walks out of school and departs to the grocery store. She collects some fruits and vegetables.

?: Shino... Shino Asada...

Shino: Oh great.

Two girls grab Shino and they bring her to an alley to their leader, Endou.

Shino: What do you want?

Endou: Oh hey. Sorry Shino. We spent too much time at the karaoke bar and we don't have much money left for the train. If you give us some, we'll pay you back tomorrow.

Shino: You want me to give you 10,000 yen? I don't even have that much.

Endou: Well, just withdraw it then.

Shino: Absolutely not.

Endou: What?

Shino: You heard me. I am not planning on giving you money, Endou.

Shino starts walking away.

Endou: You little... Don't think we're letting you off the hook that easy.

Shino: Get out of my way. I'm leaving.

Endou: Hey Shino.

Shino: Hmm?

Endou holds out her hand and makes gun fingers, and Shino begins to panic.

Endou: Bang.

Shino takes a step back.

Endou: Hey Shino, my older brother has a few model guns. How about I show you some of them at school sometime? You like guns, right? Pistols?

The other two girls smile a little.

Endou: You know, it was a real mess when you vomited and collapsed in class that one time, you know. But this time, we'll let you go if you hand over all that you have. After all, you're not looking so good.

Endou tries to get Shino's bag, but suddenly...

? Officer! This way! Hurry!

Endou: Darn! Time to go, girls!

Endou and her friends both leave as they let go of Shino's bag. She starts to breath heavily.

Kyouji: Are you alright Shino?

Shino: I'm fine. Thank you, Kyouji.

They head over to a coffee shop and Kyouji treats Shino to some tea.

Kyouji: So, I heard about what happened the other day. They said that you really outdid yourself. You even had some help from some armadillo and squirrel? Their names were Mighty and Ray, right?

Shino: Yeah. But the plan was a failure. Four out of eight in my squad all got wiped out. Suffering that many casualties in an ambush could be hardly called a victory.

Kyouji: I'm still impressed. That Behemoth guy, the minigun user, never even died in a squad battle before that one.

Shino: So he's that famous? I didn't even know that because I never saw him in the BoB rankings.

Kyouji: Of course you didn't. It's 500 rounds put you over the weight limit so you can't run. BoB emphasizes solo play, so if he entered, I'm pretty sure he would just get shot from long range. But besides that, with enough support in a squad battle, he's pretty much invincible. That's one serious overpowered weapon.

Shino: Well, you could say the same thing about my Hecate II. I have my fair share of troubles using it as well.

Kyouji: I wish I had the luxury to worry about that. I also heard that some robot that looks just like Sonic the Hedgehog was with Behemoth.

Shino: You mean Metal Sonic? Well, Mighty and Ray took him down.

Kyouji: Metal Sonic, huh? Guess he was made by that Eggman to match the real Sonic's powers?

Shino: That's what Mighty said.

Kyouji: I heard that after that, they both distracted Behemoth so you could snipe him. Too bad you lost a leg.

Shino: Oh yeah. Those two are pretty good together for best friends.

Kyouji: I can see that. By the way, are you gonna enter the next BoB?

Shino: Of course I am. I even got just about all the data on the top twenty players from the last one too. I'm taking my Hecate with me this time. This is my chance to ki... I mean, place high in the rankings. If I can take out all of my enemies with my Hecate, then I'm sure I'll...

Kyouji: You never cease to amaze me, Shino. You found a really powerful gun and it just so happens you have increased your STR as if you would be needing it. You certainly are lucky, after all, I was the one who invited you to play GGO, but you outdid me in no time.

Shino: But you made it all the way to the semifinals in the last qualifier, right?

Kyouji: Yeah, but that's it. As an AGI type, unless I find some really rare gun, then that's it.

Shino: So you're not entering the next BoB?

Kyouji: It's not like there's a point in me to even try. Not right now that is.

Shino: Ok. You have your studies, and you're applying for a medical school, right?

Kyouji: Yeah. My family runs a hospital, after all. I even promised my dad that I would be going to medical school as well. So it's all set in stone.

Shino: Are you taking a high school equivalency course at prep school? How are your mock exams?

Kyouji: Good. My class rank is pretty much the same as when I was in school. No problems here, Captain.

He salutes to Shino.

Shino: Good. By the way, I've been slightly worried about how much you have logged in lately. You've been online every time I log in.

Kyouji: I normally study during the day. It is important to have some variety, after all.

Shino: You must have earned a lot, given how much you have been diving, right?

Kyouji: If only that's what it is. AGI types can't really play solo anymore.

Shino: Earning enough to cover the connection fees is plenty, isn't it?

She looks at the time.

Shino: Oh, sorry. I have to leave now.

Kyouji: Oh, you need to get back early to cook dinner, right? I really want to try your cooking again sometime.

Shino: Sure thing. After I get a little better at it. Thank you for the tea. And thank you again for helping me back there. It was really nice of you.

Kyouji: Well, someone has to look after you, right? It would be nice if I was always there. Do you want me to pick you up from school from now on, in case those three show up again?

Shino: It's fine. I need to get stronger, after all.

Kyouji: Alright. See you later, Shino.

Shino: See you later, Kyouji.

Shino heads home, and enters the code to get inside.

Shino: I'm home.

She gets into her house clothes and looks at her game cabinet, and thinks about that battle with Behemoth.

Shino: Maybe, I'll try now.

She opens up her drawer and looks at the fake gun. She tries to hold it. She thinks about her past, and her heart rate goes up and she starts to scream. She gets a flashback of when she was twelve.

Shino: I've never seen my father before. I heard that he died in a car accident when I turned two. After that, my mom and I left Tokyo to live with her parents, restoring peace to our normal lives. However, that peace has suddenly ended one day.

At the post office, Shino's mother walks to the desk to mail something, when suddenly, a man who doesn't look too good to Shino walks in and heads to the desk. He pushes Shino's mother on the floor.

Shino: Oh no!

The man takes out a gun and points it to the man at the register.

Gunman: Hand over all the money! And don't you dare push the alarm!

Shino: Mom?

Gunman: Hurry up! Put it all in! Everything you have!

Cashier: Ok.

He hands over the money, and the gunman shoots him. Shino covers her ears.

Gunman: I told you not to raise the alarm!

He points his gun at a woman working at the post office.

Gunman: You! Hand over the money! If you don't hurry, then I'll shoot this woman.

He points his gun at Shino's mother. Suddenly, Shino gets out of her seat and bites the gunmans hand, making him drop the gun. She grabs it, and she was afraid.

Gunman: You little brat! Hand it over! Give it back.

He tries to grab the gun from Shino, when suddenly, she shoots the gun at him.

Gunman: Gah!

He tries to go over to her, but she screams as she shoots him again, knocking him back. When he tries to get up again, Shino shoots him in the head one last time, killing him. She starts breathing heavily, when she suddenly looks at her mother who has an extremely terrified face. She looks back at the gun, and gasps. She starts to panic really hard. Back in the present...

Shino: AHHHHHHHHHH!

She quickly drops the gun and runs to the bathroom and starts vomiting. After that, she gets a towel and picks up the gun with it, and then puts it back in the drawer. She then looks at herself in the mirror.

Shino: I look awful.

She lies down on her bed.

Shino: Somebody... Please, save me.

Meanwhile, back in ALO...

Asuna: Wait a minute! You, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are quitting ALO?!

Kirito: I didn't say that! It's just for a few days. We'll come back here right after that.

Asuna: What's going on?

Kirito: Well, something came up, so I have to dive into another VRMMO.

Asuna: Couldn't you just create a new account like you did for other games? Converting your account resets all your items, right? Why are you doing it this time?

Kirito: Well you see, Mr. Kikuoka said...

He tells her the story about Death Gun.

Asuna: If it's Kikuoka's request, I know you wouldn't be able to refuse. I can't help but doubt in trusting that guy.

Kirito: That's actually how I feel as well.

Asuna: Please come back soon. Our home will always be here.

Asuna and Yui hold Kirito's hand.

Sonic and the others wave up to Kirito and Asuna. Aincrad floats above them in the sky.

Kirito: We'll all come back. We'll just take a look at what's going on in Gun Gale Online.

In the real world, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles rent an apartment to stay at, and Kazuto heads to the hospital.

Sonic: Hey Tails, don't you think this Death Gun thing is a hoax?

Tails: It's not possible to kill people IRL from the virtual world. But it could still be possible.

Knuckles: Maybe you're right. Especially since SAO.

Tails: Ok. I've finished converting our accounts to GGO. Everything is ready.

Sonic: Ok.

They all put on their AmuSpheres.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles: Link start!

The trio logs into the world of GGO. Meanwhile back at Shino's place in the real world.

Shino: Yeah, I'm fine. I've gotten used to school and I've made some friends too. I've only had just a few panic attacks. I'll be home for Christmas. I'll talk to you later, bye.

She gets off the phone after talking to her mother.

Shino: Ever since that incident at the post office, whenever I see a gun, whether it's a photo, or video, or even if it's fake, then I would panic so hard. Even after coming to school, far away from home, my condition hasn't improved enough. Kyouji bought me the game, Gun Gale Online as an attempt of exposure therapy. But here's the strange thing. As Sinon in the virtual world, holding a gun or having one pointed at me couldn't make me panic. As Sinon gets stronger in the game, I'll get stronger in the real world too. Holding onto this belief, I have fought until now with Hecate by my side. If I manage to win the next Bullet of Bullets, I'm sure...

She puts on her AmuSphere.

Shino: Link start.

Meanwhile, a guy goes onto his computer and looks into a livestream explaining about Death Gun.

Gas Mask Gunner: Ok, XeXeeD and Roe sure have been gone for a while. It's been a month, right? Does anyone know what happened to those guys?

Penguin Guy: I'm telling you that nobody knows anything, alright?

Cactus Guy: Well, we know the date and time that they were both shot by Death Gun, so won't this be clear if we just look into VRMMO players who died then?

Gas Mask Gunner: If they were living alone, nobody would have noticed if they died, and we've already confirmed that the cops won't tell.

Cactus Guy: And even if you send an email to Zaskar in English, you would get the usual junk like they would say, We can't disclose user information. So in the end, the only way to solve this is for someone to verify things themselves. So tomorrow at 11:30, I'm gonna wait at the Glocken Central Bank with a red rose on my chest so that Death Gun can come out and shoot me.

Gas Mask Gunner: You have guts. But there's no point unless you share your real name and address, right?

Penguin Guy: You couldn't even do a dive in public at some net cafe!

The gamer closes out of the window and looks into his files and see's XeXeeD and Lightly Salted Roe's pictures with an X on them, and looks at Sinon and touches her picture a bit. He gives a devilish smile.


	4. Gun Gale Online

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles arrive at the SBC Glocken in GGO.

Knuckles: This game seems different from the others that we've played.

Sonic: This is Gun Gale Online, huh?

Tails: Well, this game is set in a post-apocalyptic setting. Pretty much a dystopian society like you would see in movies. This game is all PVP focused, but unlike ALO, this world is more specialized for killing.

Sonic: I can see there are a lot of guys that look older.

Tails: I heard there are not that much female players here.

Knuckles: Speaking of which, where is Kirito?

Tails: I'm not sure. However, I think that Death Gun is gonna show up at the Bullet of Bullets. It's a tournament for GGO that provides solo play. I think that he's targeting the top players. So we should head to the governor's office to sign up.

Knuckles: Where's the governor's office?

Tails: That big building all the way over there.

Sonic: Then let's get going.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles run over to the governor's office. Meanwhile, Kirito logs into GGO. He looks down at himself and he notices he has long hair. He goes to look in the mirror.

Kirito: What the heck is this?! They could have at least made me resemble a soldier a little. For crying out loud Kikuoka.

?: Hey, are you an F-1300 type?

Kirito: Gah!

Avatar Merchant: That's really rare. You almost never get one. I'll buy your account for just two mega credits, miss!

Kirito: Miss?!

The good news is he doesn't have a girl avatar.

Kirito: I hate to break it to you but I'm a guy.

Avatar Merchant: Then that must be an M-9000 type! I'll pay you four... no five mega credits! Please sell it to me!

Kirito: Umm, this is a converted character, not a default one, so I can't sell it.

Avatar Merchant: Oh, I see.

Kirito: Sorry, I have to go.

Avatar Merchant: Come back here if you change your mind!

Kirito walks down the SBC Glocken.

Kirito: Ok. First order of business is to get my name up and attract Death Gun's attention.

A couple of guys go up to Kirito thinking he's a girl. He continues to walk down the Glocken as the guys he goes past keep mistaking him for a girl. Suddenly, he gets lost.

Kirito: Hmm. I thought this would be a shortcut.

He finds a girl with blue hair walking around and goes up to her.

Kirito: Excuse me. I'm kind of lost.

Sinon: What?

Kirito: Oh crud. She thinks I'm gonna hit on her.

She looks at Kirito for a moment.

Sinon: Is this your first time playing?

She smiles a little.

Kirito: Oh crud, she thinks I'm a girl too.

Sinon: So, where do you want to go?

Kirito: Umm. Yeah, this is my first time playing. I'm actually looking for a place to buy some cheap weapons. I'm also looking for the governor's office.

Sinon: Sure, I'll take you there. Follow me.

Kirito: I'm so gonna regret this, but I will have to let her think that I'm a girl for a while.

They both continue to walk down the street.

Sinon: So, what are you gonna do at the governor's office?

Kirito: Well, I want to enter this event called the Bullet of Bullets.

Sinon: BoB? But you just started today, right?

Kirito: Yes.

Sinon: Your stats may not be good enough.

Kirito: Well, I'm using a converted account, so I'm bringing my skills from another game.

Sinon: I see. So what brings you in a game that's all dark and dusty?

Kirito: Well, I've always played fantasy games, so I kind of wanted to play something all cyberpunk for once. And I'm kind of interested in gun fights.

Sinon: And you're starting with BoB? You have heart. If you're gonna do that, I'll take you to a special market with lots of stuff. Right this way.

Kirito: Alright.

They head over to the market so Kirito can get some weapons.

Kirito: This place is great.

Sinon: This game has two weapon types, energy and physical. Energy weapons are light and accurate, but players can equip a defensive field that only halves their damage. If you want to do a PVP fight like in BoB, then you would want a physical weapon. So what type of stats do you have?

Kirito: Mostly strength and speed.

Sinon: A strength and agility type, huh? Then your main weapon should be a heavy assault rifle, or large-caliber machine gun, and you should have a handgun as a sub-weapon, for a mid-ranged type. But you just converted, right? How much money do you have?

Kirito: Umm.

He opens up his holo-window and notices he has 1,000 credits.

Kirito: 1,000 credits.

Sinon: That's pretty much the starting amount. With that much money, you can't buy more than just a small ray gun. If you wanted a physical, I doubt you could even buy a used revolver. Would you like me to lend you some credits?

Kirito: Oh, no. You don't have to do that. But, is there any way I can earn a lot of money?

Sinon: There are casinos and gambling games, but I wouldn't recommend it. But there is a game over there.

They look and see a game called Untouchable.

Robot Gunman: Hey, check it! Come on now!

Kirito: What's this?

Sinon: You enter through that gate and dodge the gunman's bullets as you run as far as you can to reach him. If you touch him, you get all the money the other players have ever put in.

Kirito: All of it?!

Sinon: Over 300,000 credits, huh?

Kirito: That's a lot!

Sinon: It's kind of impossible. Once you pass the eight-meter line, he does these cheap speed draws. By the time you see the prediction lines, it's too late.

Kirito: Prediction lines?

Sinon: Look, someone's about to enter.

Challenger: Wish me luck guys.

He enters the challenge.

Robot Gunman: I'm gonna blast you all the way to the moon.

Challenger: Today, I'm gonna win this.

The challenge begins and he starts running, he dodges a bullet the gunman fires.

Kirito: Was that the prediction line?

Sinon: Yeah. It's a defensive system, the bullet line. It shows where the bullet is going, except for a sniper's first shot that is.

As soon as the challenger gets to the eight meter line, the gunman uses a quick draw and the challenger falls to the floor. The gunman shoots him.

Robot Gunman: Game over!

The credits go up by 1,000.

Sinon: So, you can't move far left or right, you have to keep moving in the middle. That's the area's limit.

Kirito: I get it. So when you see the prediction lines, it's too late.

Kirito walks up to take on the challenge.

Sinon: Wait a minute.

Blue Camo Player: That beginner is gonna try?

Armored Player: This next loser is cute.

Kirito: Here goes.

The challenge begins and Kirito starts running.

Robot Gunman: I'll kill you!

He starts shooting his gun a Kirito and he dodges. He begins to move left and right a few times.

Robot Gunman: You're a loser!

The gunman uses his quick draw but Kirito still dodges.

Blue Camo Player: She's already made it past ten meters!

Robot Gunman: You're gonna die!

Kirito continues to dodge the bullets as he runs.

Kirito: Out of ammo, huh?

The gunman starts shooting laser fire, but Kirito jumps high and finally touches the gunman.

Robot Gunman: Nooooo!

A whole pile of cash falls out of the cabin and Kirito accepts the credits earned.

Sinon: Those were some amazing reflexes. At the end you dodged the laser shots fired two meters away. That's hardly any time between the prediction lines and actual shots!

Kirito: Well, I actually predicted the prediction lines.

Sinon: You... You predicted the predictions?

Robot Gunman: HUH?!

Kirito and Sinon look for weapons to buy.

Kirito: This assault rifle has a small caliber than a submachine gun, so why is it bigger?

Sinon: You don't know that, but you seriously have some good dodging skills. You said the account you have is converted, right? What type of games have you played before?

Kirito: Fantasy games.

Sinon: I see. If you are entering BoB qualifiers, I'll have a chance to see you in action.

Kirito: Oh, that's great.

Sinon: So about the assault rifle having a small caliber?

Kirito: Oh, yeah.

Sinon: It's like the American M16. The design has a small-caliber, high speed round, with high accuracy and penetrative power. But that doesn't matter. You have over 300,000 credits which means you can get the good stuff. In the end, it come down on what you want to focus on.

Kirito: Focus on, huh? Oh, what is this?

He looks at the photon swords.

Sinon: Those are photon swords. They are energy swords. People normally like to call them lightsabers.

Kirito: GGO has swords too?

Sinon: Yeah, but hardly anyone uses them because you normally strike at point-blank range. By the time you do that, you're already dead.

Kirito: So you just have to get in close, right?

Sinon: Your dodging skills might be amazing, but against a full-auto weapon?

Kirito buys a Kagemitsu G4 photon sword.

Sinon: Well, everyone has their own combat style after all.

Kirito: You should use this if they sell it. Even if it's not much.

He turns on his photon sword. He tests it out in an open space.

Sinon: She looks like she knows what she's doing.

Kirito uses Horizontal Square.

Sinon: Wow. Your sword skills are great.

Kirito: It's nothing much, really. But this thing is light, though.

He puts his sword on his back forgetting that he doesn't have a scabbard there. He turns it off.

Sinon: Umm, even if you have that as your main weapon, you would need a handgun or submachine gun with you. You would want to distract them when you get close.

Kirito: I see.

Sinon: How much money do you have left?

Kirito: Over 150,000 credits.

Sinon: Wow. Photon swords are that expensive, huh? With that much money, you would want a handgun and some ammo. In that range...

Kirito: I'll leave it to you.

Sinon: Ok. Well, if you're going to enter BoB, you will want a physical gun. If the goal is to distract them, you would want accuracy over power. It would take up almost all the money you have, but I'd recommend this one. The FN Five-seven. It's a caliber which uses 5.7 mm bullets. They are smaller than the 9 mm Parabellums, but their shape is like a rifle so they have greater accuracy and penetrative power.

Kirito: Then I'll take it. Anything else I need?

Sinon: You need a holster, some spare ammo, and armor. Same goes for a defensive field. And...

Kirito: What?

Sinon: Have you ever fired a gun?

Kirito: No. Not really.

Sinon: Want to test your weapon out?

They head down to the gun range. Kirito blocks his ears from the loud sound the guns make.

Sinon: You can try any gun you buy from the store here. You know how to fire it, right?

Kirito: Yeah.

Kirito holds out his handgun.

Kirito: This is light.

Sinon: Well, it's made of reinforced plastic. The recoil isn't bad either, but I'd recommend firing with both hands. And keep your left eye open.

Kirito: Ok.

He aims his gun at the target and notices the bullet circle.

Sinon: You see the bullet circle?

Kirito: Is it the one that's growing and shrinking?

Sinon: Yes. That's an offensive assist system. Bullets will hit a random spot in the circle.

Kirito: What's the best way to get accuracy?

Sinon: It's best to get closer or to stay calm. When your pulse increases, the circle expands.

Kirito starts to get more calm and the bullet circle gets smaller. He shoots his gun.

Kirito: Gah!

Sinon pushes the button to get the target result.

Kirito: It didn't hit?

Sinon: It's normally not that easy to get.

They leave the market.

Kirito: Thanks for your help.

Sinon: It's fine. There aren't that many female players in this game. I also wasn't doing much before the qualifiers.

Kirito: Are you also entering BoB?

Sinon: Yeah. I'm just about to enter.

Sinon looks at the time and notices it's 2:50.

Sinon: Oh no! We only have ten minutes!

Kirito: I'm sorry. I slowed you down.

Sinon: No, it's my fault. I should have payed more attention. Come on, let's hurry!

They start running to the governor's office.

Kirito: Is there a teleporter around here?!

Sinon: No. In this game, the only teleportation is dying and respawning at the revival point. Our HP won't go down in town, so we can't do that. The governor's office is three kilometers away. Entering will only take five minutes, so we gotta make it there in three.

Kirito looks and see's some rental vehicles.

Kirito: Over there!

He grabs Sinon's hand and runs to the bikes. They both sit down and Kirito rents the bike.

Kirito: Hand on!

He rides it to the office.

Sinon: Hey! Aren't these bikes really hard to drive?! Almost nobody can handle them!

Kirito: I used to play a lot of racing games back then!

They get past the bus quickly.

Kirito: You alright?

Sinon: Wow! This is fun! Hey, go faster!

Kirito: You got it!

Kirito continues to drive and soon, both her and Sinon make it in time to the governor's office.


	5. Bullet of Bullets

Meanwhile, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles arrive at the Governor's office so they can sign up for the Bullet of Bullets.

Tails: This must be the place.

Sonic: Good. Let's head inside and sign up for BoB.

Tails: Ok.

They all head inside. Sonic starts getting attention of a couple of players.

Shotgun Wielder: Is that Sonic the Hedgehog? He's here in GGO?

Rocket Wielder: I can't believe he's here. He's so cool!

Knuckles: You sure are getting a lot of attention.

Sonic: Yeah. I'm not surprised.

Tails: These terminals will let us sign up for the tournament.

Sonic: Ok. Let's use them.

They use the terminals.

Knuckles: We have to put in real life info?

Tails: We have to if we want to win the top-ranking prizes, but we're not here for that. We can leave it blank or put in false info though.

Sonic: I'm not wanting to win anything.

Knuckles: Me neither.

Tails: Neither am I.

They all leave it blank.

Sonic: Ok. It says I'm in block F-42.

Tails: I'm in block F-31.

Knuckles: Mine is F-40.

Sonic: I guess we'll have to fight each other sometime.

Tails: Even if we win or lose, we'll still be able to enter the main tournament.

Sonic: Yeah.

Knuckles: If we do fight each other, no holding back.

Tails: Ok. Now let's head down to the tournament area. It's just down this elevator.

Sonic: Here we go!

They head down the elevator and it is only 30 minutes left before the tournament starts.

Tails: These players sure look scary.

Sonic: We'll worry about them when we're out in the field.

They wait for a little while

Knuckles: I wonder where Kirito is.

Tails: He is using a different avatar, so maybe he's still here.

Sonic: Let's go look for him.

The trio walks around the basement to look for Kirito.

Sonic: Hey Kirito! You here?!

Kirito: Sonic! Over here.

Sonic: Huh? Is that you, Kirito?

Kirito: Yeah.

Tails: Hahahahaha! You look like a girl!

Kirito: This isn't a female avatar. It turned out to be random.

Sinon: You know these three Kirito?

Spiegel: Is that Sonic?! He's really here!

Sonic: Yeah, I'm Sonic. Nice to meet you.

Sinon: Mighty and Ray said something about you guys. My name is Sinon, and this is Spiegel.

Tails: Nice to meet you guys. Wait, you know Mighty and Ray?

Sinon: Yeah. We teamed up together once in this game.

Knuckles: Well, that's surprising. By the way Kirito, where have you been?

Kirito: Well, uh...

Sinon: I was showing this doofus around the Glocken and how to use a gun. He tricked me into thinking he's a girl.

Tails: Wait a minute, is that true Kirito?

Kirito: Well, uh... Hey Sinon, that was a very good date today. I had a lot of fun.

Sinon: What are you talking about? It wasn't a date, it was a mistake. So forget we had this talk and forget we ever met!

Kirito: Oh, don't be so heartless.

Sinon: Heartless? I don't even know you!

Sonic: Hopefully Asuna won't find out about this.

Kirito: Well, you did help me get my gun and armor.

Sinon: That was because...

Announcement: Attention, the preliminary rounds for the Bullet of Bullets 3 is about to begin. All players who have signed up for the tournament will automatically be teleported to the first-round field map. Good luck.

Sinon: Kirito! You better make it to the finals, because I really want to blow your head off!

Kirito: Well, I accept the challenge. Hope to see you there.

Sinon: Hey! Wait!

He walks away, and waves goodbye. He looks back at Sinon and the others once again and they didn't look too happy.

Kirito: Maybe I went too far.

Kirito, Sonic, and all the other players who have entered the tournament all get teleported to the first-round field. Sonic fights against Zeliska (Who is from the game SAO Fatal Bullet).

Sonic: Ok, so this is the preliminary stage.

Sonic runs through the field to look for Zeliska. Suddenly a couple of bullets get shot at him and he dodges them.

Sonic: Woah!

He hides behind a pillar.

Sonic: I wonder where she's at.

A grenade gets thrown at him but he quickly runs away from the explosion.

Sonic: That was way too close.

Suddenly, someone taps behind his shoulder, he jumps back a little.

Zeliska: Hello Sonic. I'm a big fan.

Sonic: Oh, well that's good to know.

Zeliska: Great.

She jumps back as she throws a grenade at him. He dodges the blast and uses his spindash to send her back a little.

Zeliska: You're pretty strong.

Sonic: So are you. In fact you actually look friendly.

Zeliska: Really? I'm so glad to hear you say that. I may be the Uncrowned Queen, but I do like a little competition.

Sonic: So do I.

As Zeliska shoots Sonic with her assault rifle, he jumps out of the way and finishes off Zeliska with his spindash. She disappears.

Sonic: Too cool. Just gotta do this four more times and then this is over.

Meanwhile, Kirito fights against Uemaru. He hides behind a pillar after getting shot by a few bullets.

Kirito: How do I beat him? Wait. The bullet line tells me exactly where they are going. I can do this.

Kirito closes his eyes and tries to find out where Uemaru is at. He is currently crawling through the grass nearby. Kirito takes out his photon sword and quickly runs to him.

Uemaru: Huh?

Uemaru starts shooting Kirito with his assault rifle, but then he deflects the bullets that fly at him.

Uemaru: No way!

Kirito shoots his gun at Uemaru and finishes him off with his photon sword, using Vorpal Strike. Uemaru disappears. As Kirito puts his sword behind his back, he remembers again that there is no scabbard.

Kirito: Oh great. I can't believe I have to do this four more times.

He gets teleported back to the hub. He see's Sonic and Spiegel.

Kirito: I wonder where Tails, Knuckles, and Sinon are at. Probably still fighting.

?: Are you the real deal?

Kirito: Gah!

Kirito jumps back and takes out his sword. The man in the cloak who was behind him is Death Gun.

Kirito: What do you mean, real deal? Who are you?

Death Gun walks up to Kirito.

Death Gun: I saw your fight. You used a sword, right?

Kirito: It's not like it's against the rules.

Death Gun: I'll ask again. Are you the real deal?

When Sonic was watching on the monitors, he looks and see's Kirito talking to Death Gun. He starts eavesdropping.

Sonic: Who is that guy? Is that Death Gun?

Kirito: Does this person know me? I know it. We've met before and spoken in person. But where?

Death Gun opens up his holo-window and opens the tournament tab, listing Kirito's name, and he shows it to him.

Death Gun: With that name, and the skill with a sword, are you the real deal?

Sonic: Real deal? Is he an SAO survivor?

Kirito: That's it! He's an SAO survivor! But who is he, and where did we meet?

Death Gun closes his holo-window and as he puts his arm back in his cloak Kirito looks at his wrist and notices a familiar symbol. Sonic looks at it as well as he's further away. They were both shocked to see the symbol. Death Gun is wearing the emblem of SAO's murder guild, Laughing Coffin.

Kirito: This can't be.

Sonic: No way!


	6. Laughing Coffin Memories

Death Gun: Do you not understand my question?

Kirito: I don't. So what do you mean by the real deal?

Death Gun: No matter. But whether you are fake using his name, or if you are the real one, someday I'll kill you.

Death Gun walks away and Kirito sits down. Sonic goes up to Kirito.

Sonic: Kirito, that guy... that emblem he was wearing on his wrist.

Kirito: I know.

Sonic: Are you ok?

Kirito: I'm just starting to have bad memories.

Tails: Hey Sonic, Kirito, we're back.

Sonic: How did your fights go?

Knuckles: Pretty smooth.

Tails: Not bad at all. Huh? Is everything alright guys? It looks like Kirito's about to have a panic attack.

Sonic: Guys, listen. You two remember the murder guild from SAO right?

Tails: Laughing Coffin, right? Why do you ask?

Sonic: We just saw Death Gun, and he was wearing their emblem on his wrist.

Tails: What?!

Knuckles: You're kidding right?!

Kirito: I've met him once, but I don't remember.

Flashback from SAO... Kirito, Asuna, Sonic's friends, and an entire party from the assault team heads over to Laughing Coffin's headquarters to confront them and take them in.

Divine Dragon Alliance Member: We're almost at Laughing Coffin HQ as said in the reports. I'll go over this one more time. They are red players. When the fight begins, they will do nothing but kill us. So we can't hesitate. They will kill us if we do. But for us in the assault team, we have more people and higher levels than they do. Perhaps they'll surrender without fighting.

Sonic: Hmm.

Tails: You alright Sonic?

Sonic: It's just that something doesn't feel right.

Mighty: I get that same feeling.

Kirito: Look out!

The whole Laughing Coffin guild starts attacking out of nowhere. Kirito blocks with his sword, and Asuna knocks some of them back. Sonic and Tails use their spin attack and Knuckles starts punching them. Mighty and Ray also use their spin attack.

Diving Dragon Alliance Member: Leaked info about our plan?! Impossible!

Knuckles: It's an ambush!

Sonic: Let's go!

The entire assault team attacks each of the players from Laughing Coffin. A couple of them let themselves get captured or killed, or maybe ran for it. More than ten people from the assault team were killed. So far at least twenty laughing coffin members let themselves die. Two of them were killed by Kirito's elucidator. Nobody was killed by Sonic or his friends. Back in GGO, Kirito begins to shake.

Sonic: Kirito, calm down.

Kirito: If he was a surviving member of Laughing Coffin, then he must have spoken to me some point after the fight. Or could he be one of the two that I killed? No, that can't be right, his voice was the same as Death Gun's. That guy in the cloak was Death Gun.

Tails: Kirito, snap out of it.

Sinon walks to them and taps Kirito's shoulder.

Kirito: Oh, sorry guys.

Sinon: You are one big mess. Was the fight really that close? If so, you sure made it back pretty early. You'll never make it to the finals if your fight is like that.

Kirito looks away from Sinon.

Sinon: Get a grip. You owe me, you know.

She starts to walk away but Kirito holds her hand in fear. Sinon gets some memories of herself.

Sinon: What's wrong? Is everything alright?

Kirito gets teleported to his next match.

Sinon: What happened?

Sonic: It's complicated. All I can say is that it wasn't good.

Kirito fights against Ginko, and Sonic fights against Itsuki (Also from Fatal Bullet).

Tails: Man, I can't believe Kirito can deflect bullets.

Knuckles: That's really insane.

Sonic then fights against Mighty in round 4.

Sonic: Mighty's here?!

Mighty shows up from behind.

Mighty: Hey Sonic.

Sonic: Mighty, what are you doing here in BoB?

Mighty: Just thought that this Death Gun guy would show up here. Ray is also here too.

Sonic: I see. Well I already met Death Gun. The bad news is that he was with Laughing Coffin.

Mighty: The murder guild from SAO?! What are they doing here in GGO?

Sonic: No idea. Anyway, no holding back now, alright?

Mighty: Ok.

They both spindash at each other, attacking. The fight lasts for quite a while. Meanwhile, back at the hub area.

Tails: This fight sure is taking quite a while.

Spiegel: How long has it been, ten minutes?

Sinon: They both seem equally skilled.

Knuckles: Yeah, well that's Sonic and Mighty alright.

Ray shows up and waves to Tails, Knuckles, and Sinon.

Ray: Hey guys!

Tails: Ray! Man it's good to see you again.

Ray: So what are you guys doing here in GGO.

Knuckles: Checking out the whole Death Gun crisis.

Ray: Well, that's why me and Mighty are here as well.

Tails: You wouldn't believe the bad news about him though.

Ray: What do you mean?

Tails: He was with Laughing Coffin back in SAO.

Ray: What?! But why are they here?!

Knuckles: Isn't it obvious?

Sinon: Umm, hey Ray, how are you?

Ray: Hi Sinon. By the way, you guys seen Kirito? He's insanely cool! He was deflecting bullets. Why is he disguised as a girl?

Kirito: Because that's what happens when you convert an account from another game. Remind me never to do that again.

Meanwhile, back in the fight between Sonic and Mighty...

Sonic: Man, now I know how it feels like getting hit by your shell.

Mighty: Yeah. How long have we been here?

Sonic: About ten minutes?

Mighty: Ok. Let's finish this.

Sonic dodges Mighty's spindash and he see's an opening and finishes him off using his spindash. Sonic wins.

Sonic: Yes!

Sonic gets teleported back to the hub, along with Mighty.

Tails: You were great Sonic! You too Mighty!

Mighty: So, I guess now is the semifinals. You, Kirito, and Sinon are in it. Good luck you guys.

Sinon: Let's hope that I kick Kirito's butt in the finals.

Spiegel: Good luck Sinon.

Sinon: Thank you.

In the semifinals, Kirito fights against Sonic and Sinon fights Stinger.

Sinon: He uses an FN SCAR Carbine rifle as his main weapon. Since I'm a sniper, I'll have no chance if he gets close to me. But if he wants to get close to me on this map, he has to pass through the streets. I'll finish him off then.

Sinon starts to think about Kirito.

Sinon: It's his fault...

She notices a shadow coming passed and shoots at the ground she's aiming at. She missed. A truck passes by.

Sinon: So, he wanted to make me waste that first shot to try to get close. But my shot should now be more accurate.

She shoots the driver in the window and kills him. The car explodes when it crashes.

Sinon: My advice, should have gotten out of the car. If you did, you might have seen the bullet line in time to dodge it.

Sinon gets teleported back to the hub. In the finals, she fights against Sonic.

Sinon: Oh, well that's just great. And I was so looking forward to killing Kirito.

When she gets teleported, she runs inside the bus, getting ready to snipe Sonic.

Sinon: Not sure if I'll stand a chance. He's too fast. But, why did I want to kill Kirito so much? Is it because he's like me?

Sonic starts running through the field looking for Sinon.

Sinon: He doesn't even know I'm here. This could be easy.

She aims at Sonic very calmly. She shoots at him but he suddenly dodges when he knew that something was up.

Sonic: Yikes!

Sinon: He dodged my shot? But there was no bullet line. Still, I'm not surprised.

Sonic: There she is!

Sonic starts running to the bus where Sinon is at, but she quickly jumps away.

Sinon: You know, I wanted to fight Kirito right?

Sonic: Like I care. Besides, he was too easy to beat anyway. By the way, do you think it's possible to shoot a player in game and have their heart stopped in the real world?

Sinon: No. That's not even possible. Is this about Death Gun?

Sonic: Yeah sorry for changing the subject. How about we finish this.

Sinon: Alright.

Sonic dodges every bullet Sinon shoots. He uses his spindash on her.

Sinon: He's ridiculously strong.

She throws a grenade at Sonic but when he dodges it, he loses most of his rings from the blast.

Sonic: Oh crud!

Sinon: Here I come.

She shoots Sonic with her sniper rifle, but he dodges. Sonic charges at Sinon and punches and kicks her.

Sinon: Not bad. Just letting you know, my Hecate can take you down in one blow.

Sonic: Yeah. Well I'm very spiky.

Sinon: I can see that. You're as sharp as nails. And also really fast.

Sonic: Well, they call me Sonic because I'm faster than sound. And I keep on jumping around.

Sinon: Sure they do.

She throws a grenade while they were talking and it explodes.

Sinon: Guess I won. Did I?

Sonic is now behind Sinon. He finishes her off with one last spindash. Sonic wins. Him and Sinon get teleported back to the hub.

Sonic: At least we'll be able to meet in the main tournament.

Sinon: Yeah.

Spiegel: You were great Sinon.

Sinon: Thanks.

Kirito: Well, tomorrow's the main event.

Tails: Let's hope we'll see Death Gun there.

Knuckles: We better.


	7. Crimson Memories

The next day, Kazuto eats lunch with Suguha at home in the real world.

Suguha: Oh Kazuto.

She starts smiling.

Kazuto: Ok, what's going on?

Suguha: Well, I found this article earlier and noticed this. Your name in the Bullet of Bullets 3. Same goes for Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Mighty, and Ray.

She points at their names.

Kazuto: Guess some people have similar names, huh?

Suguha: Nope. It's the exact same.

Kazuto: Maybe. But it is a common name. It's an abbreviation of my real name. I'm sure the Kirito in GGO is actually... umm... Tougorou Kirigamine or something. Anyway hurry and eat or it'll get cold.

Kazuto starts thinking about Death Gun. Since he's an SAO survivor, both of them have met somewhere and fought once.

Suguha: Kazuto, is everything alright?

Kazuto: Yeah, it's fine.

Suguha: Listen, Asuna told me that you converted from ALO to GGO.

Kazuto: Oh.

Suguha: It's not like I wouldn't notice when you dropped out from my friends list.

Kazuto: I'm not surprised that you check it every day.

Suguha: Well, last night I noticed that you disappeared. I logged out and went into your room as well. You wouldn't leave ALO without telling me unless you had a good reason, right? I thought about that so I talked to Asuna first.

Last night, Asuna calls Kazuto.

Asuna: I'm sorry to call you so late.

Kazuto: It's fine, I was just... nevermind.

Asuna: You know, you could just finish what you were saying.

Kazuto: Well, I was thinking that I really love hearing your voice.

Asuna: That's sweet.

Kazuto lies down on his bed.

Asuna: What's the matter?

Kazuto: It's fine.

Asuna: Did something happen in the game you converted over to?

Kazuto: No, it's not that.

Asuna: Well, if the job is too hard for you, I can always help you out.

Kazuto: I appreciate that. But I don't want Yui to be lonely.

Asuna: Neither do I. Someone has to take care of her after all.

Kazuto: I already have enough help. I'll be back soon. If you need anything, let me know, alright?

Asuna: Ok. Goodnight.

Kazuto: Goodnight.

The call ends.

Kazuto: I can't involve Asuna in this. That man is gonna be part of the main BoB tournament. He is our top priority right now. I have to settle things with him.

Back in the present when Kazuto and Suguha have lunch.

Suguha: Listen, Kazuto. Asuna told me that you would win in GGO and then come back. Same goes for the others. It actually sounded like she was worried. I was too. When you came home late last night, you had this really scary expression on your face.

Kazuto: I guess so.

Suguha: You're not doing anything dangerous, right? I don't want to lose you again.

Kazuto: I won't. When BoB ends tonight, me, Sonic and the others will come back to ALO, and here.

Suguha: Alright.

Suguha still feels worried.

Kazuto: It's alright.

Suguha: Yeah. By the way Kazuto, I heard from Asuna that this new job you have pays a ton of money.

Kazuto: Yeah, I'll treat you to anything you want sometime. So look forward to it.

Suguha: Great, thanks! There is this nanocarbon practice sword that I've been wanting so bad lately!

Kazuto: Oh, well leave it to me then.

Meanwhile at Shino's place.

Shino: That guy ticks me off so hard! He makes me so mad!

Kyouji: Shino, just calm down. It's really rare for you to be so blunt you know.

Shino: That's because that Kirito is a jerk! He's also a pervert! And a show off too! Why come to GGO to use a sword?! He pretended to be a girl so I could show him around shops and help him pick out equipment! He really does tick me off so hard! At least Sonic and his friends aren't so bad.

Kyouji: Umm...

Shino: What is it Kyouji?

Kyouji: Oh, nothing. Forget rare, this is the first time I've seen you talk so much about someone in such a ticked off way.

Shino: Really?

Kyouji: Normally you don't care that much about people.

Shino: I get mad really easily.

Kyouji: Oh, then how about we ambush him in some field or something. I could be the decoy and you can snipe him. But if you want to get back at him, you would best want to fight head-on. Then I can get two or three really good machine gunners real quick. Oh, let's get Sonic and his friends to team up with us and really kick his butt.

Shino: No thanks. It's not like that. He does tick me off, but the way he fights seems so straightforward and honest. I actually want to beat him in a fair fight. I swear I'm gonna blow him up in today's tournament. Sonic may have beaten me in the finals yesterday, but I'm gonna kick Kirito's butt today! Just you wait Kirito, I'm gonna pay you back twice over!

She holds her hand up like a gun.

Kyouji: Umm, is it really ok for you to do that?

Shino: Oh, it's fine. Probably because I was mad.

Kyouji holds Shino's hand.

Shino: Huh?

Kyouji: I'm worried about you Shino. You aren't acting like you normally do.

Shino: I'm not?

Kyouji: You are normally calm and collected. Nothing makes you angry normally. You have the same problems I do, but you don't run from school. You're really strong.

Shino: No, I'm not strong. Just seeing a gun sets me off.

Kyouji: I know that, but Sinon is different. She has that huge sniper rifle she uses. That might be who you really are. Maybe someday you will be brave enough like her. But I worry about when I see you mad over a guy like that. So let me help you.

Shino: Long ago I used to laugh and cry like a normal girl too. I never wanted to be the person I am now.

Kyouji hugs Shino.

Shino: Huh?!

Kyouji: Shino...

She pushes him away.

Shino: Oh, sorry. I'm really happy you said that, and I actually think you're the only person here who understands me. But I'm still not feeling the mood to have a boyfriend yet. I think my problems will be solved when I fight.

Kyouji: Oh.

Shino: So just wait for a while.

Kyouji: Ok.

Shino: Thank you.

Meanwhile, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Mighty, and Ray were walking down the street.

Sonic: So, today is the main tournament.

Tails: Right now, Death Gun is our top priority in GGO.

Mighty: Once we take him down, we'll head back to ALO.

Knuckles: Maybe we'll get Sinon to be our friend too.

Ray: She's really great with that sniper rifle.

Tails: I still can't believe that Death Gun is from Laughing Coffin. Question is, how is he killing the players?

Sonic: Well, when he shoots his gun at a player in game, their heart stops in the real world, right?

Tails: Yeah.

Sonic: There was no sign of brain damage either, right?

Tails: There wasn't any brain damage at all.

Sonic: What if there is some outside force stopping the players heart when Death Gun makes his shot?

Tails: Outside force?

Mighty: You mean he's getting help?

Tails: Wait a minute, that could be it. Death Gun might have a partner with him.

Sonic: We'll tell Kirito that when we get online. Let's head back guys. The tournament's gonna start soon.

They head back to their apartment to log into GGO. They run over to the Governor's office in the SBC Glocken.

Knuckles: This is it.

Tails: This is a solo match, so we should be careful for other players.

Ray: Yeah.

They head inside and down the elevator. Meanwhile, back in ALO, Asuna and the others were fighting against a giant monster. It slams its tail on the ground.

Klein: Look out!

Everyone but Klein gets out of the way. Klein grabs the monster by the tail.

Silica: Are you ok Klein?

Klein: Yeah. Just fine.

Lisbeth: Is he being a show off?

Yui: Get him Klein!

Klein: This will be like a walk in the park.

The monster unleashes a poison breathe on Klein.

Klein: Darn! Poison!

Silica: Oh no!

Klein: Asuna! Help out!

His HP continues to go down. Asuna thinks about Kirito.

Klein: Hey Asuna!

Asuna: Huh? Oh!

Asuna casts a healing spell on Klein and also gets rid of the debuff. Leafa, Silica, and Lisbeth finish off the monster.

Asuna: I'm sorry everyone. I spaced out in the middle of the fight.

Klein: Hey, don't worry about it.

Silica: It's almost time for Kirito and Sonic's tournament.

Leafa: It's early but let's call it a day and start getting ready to watch.

Klein: We got enough food and drinks too.

Lisbeth: You're not gonna eat it all yourself, are you?

Yui: It's ok Mommy. Daddy is gonna win, and so will Sonic.

Asuna: Yeah. They always do.

Lisbeth: Now let's head to our room in Alne.

They fly over to Alne. Meanwhile in GGO, Sinon walks over to the Governor's office.

Spiegel: Hey Sinon.

Sinon: Hi Spiegel.

Spiegel: It's almost time. Good luck out there. I know you can win.

Sinon: Thanks. So what are you gonna do now?

Spiegel: I think I'll head over to a bar to watch the tournament.

Sinon: When I'm done, you can celebrate my victory or lament my defeat with me.

Spiegel: Ok. Oh, and about earlier, you told me to wait, right? Once you're satisfied with your strength, you and I can...

Sinon: Why are you saying this now?

Spiegel: Well, because... I really like you.

He holds onto her hand.

Sinon: I'm sorry. Not now. The only way I can win this fight is if I use every ounce of strength I have.

Spiegel: Oh, you're right. Well, I'll wait then. I believe in you.

Sinon: Thank you. I have to get ready now. See you later.

Spiegel: Good luck. I'll be rooting for you.

Sinon: Thank you.

She walks into the Governor's office. Kirito walks up to her, and Sonic runs in along with Knuckles and Mighty. Tails and Ray fly in.

Sinon: I won't lose today.

Kirito: Neither will I.

Sonic: I never lose.

Tails: Let's give it all we got guys.

Ray: Yeah.

Mighty: Let's do this.

Knuckles: We're gonna show you guys what we're really made of.

Sinon: Then bring it on.


	8. The Main Tournament

After the second Bullet of Bullets, Death Gun has arrived, and the two murders that have occurred were at places where others could see them. He probably worked on leveling up his character so he wouldn't stand out.

Sonic: I don't see Death Gun's name on the list.

Tails: He probably has a different avatar name.

Mighty: Still, BoB is the best thing for him, so obviously he'll be there.

Knuckles: We'll find out his name when we see him.

At the Governor's office at the bar...

Tails: Wow. Is the main tournament always this cool?

Blue Camo Guy: Hey, isn't that Kirito? Sonic as well?

Eye Patch Gunman: I heard that Kirito slashes her enemies with her photon sword, and Sonic is really fast. Can't believe he's actually playing this game. But Kirito is one beautiful berserker.

Blue Camo Guy: I like Sinon better.

Eye Patch Gunman: I'd rather get sliced up by a sword.

Blue Camo Guy: Then go play ALO. Actually I'd rather get shot and hit by a ball.

Sonic: We sure are getting a lot of attention.

Kirito: I know.

Kirito bumps into two players.

Kirito: Oh, sorry.

Two Guys: Oh, Kirito. We're sorry.

They both let him by. He walks ahead but then stops.

Kirito: You guys...

He turns around and then gets into a girly pose.

Kirito: Be sure to cheer for me.

Everybody cheers for Kirito.

Player: We love you Kirito!

Sonic: What the heck?

Knuckles: Oh my gosh.

Tails: Should we tell them?

Sonic: Not right now.

Sinon: What did I get myself into?

Mighty: I honestly don't know.

Ray: This is just insane.

They all head to a table a while later and Sinon tells them about the main tournament.

Kirito: So the main tournament has 30 players and the last one standing is the winner?

Sinon: I knew it. So you wanted to make me explain this to you. All of that was in the email the admins sent you guys.

Tails: We read our emails about it.

Kirito: Me too but I wanted to make sure that I fully understand it.

Sinon: Well, you're right about that. It's a battle royale on a single map with 30 players. The starting locations are random but you'll be at least a thousand meters away from all the other players.

Kirito: A thousand? The map must be really big if it's like that.

Sinon: You did read the email right? The main tournament is 10 kilometers in diameter. It has mountains, forests, and deserts. And the stage starts in the afternoon so nobody has an advantage or disadvantage in equipment or stats.

Kirito: But can you even find anyone.

Tails: Well, you're pretty much just shooting at each other with guns, so it has to be that big.

Sinon: Yes, and all participants receive an item called the satellite scan terminal.

Kirito: Like a spy satellite?

Mighty: I've read about that too. Every fifteen minutes the scan shows where other players are, right?

Sonic: So you have fifteen minutes to stay at a hiding place?

Sinon: Yes.

Kirito: Wouldn't something like that put a sniper at a disadvantage?

Sinon: Fifteen minutes is more than enough to fire one shot, kill one person, and then move.

Sonic: A lot can happen at that time too.

Sinon: So I'll see you guys later.

Kirito: Wait!

Kirito stops Sinon by grabbing her scarf.

Sinon: What do you want?

Kirito: It's really important.

Sinon: What is it?

Kirito: How many players in BoB who are participating for the first time have names you don't recognize?

Sinon: Why do you ask?

Kirito: It's important.

Sinon: Well, it's fine as long as it's only the names. Other than an obnoxious sword user, and five animals.

Knuckles: What did you call us?!

Sinon: Sorry, I mean five powerful heroes, there are only three that I don't know.

Kirito: Three? Who are they?

Sinon: There's Musketeer X, Pale Rider, and Sterben.

Sonic: It has to be one of those three.

Sinon: So, do you guys want to explain?

Kirito: Umm.

Sinon: Does it have to do with why you were acting weird in the qualifiers yesterday?

Kirito: Yes. Yesterday, another player from another VRMMO spoke to me.

Sonic: I saw their conversation. It's one of those three players you mentioned.

Sinon: Is it a friend?

Knuckles: No, he's an enemy.

Kirito: I tried to kill him once, and he tried to kill me. But I can't remember what he used to call himself.

Sinon: Were you guys in a party and you all got into a big fight?

Kirito: No. We tried to take each other's life. Their group has done things unforgivable. So I have to settle things with my sword. I don't regret that, but for a long time, I have been avoiding taking responsibility for it. Up until now, I forced myself to forget. But I can't run anymore. This time, I have to face him head-on.

Sinon: Umm.

Kirito: Oh, sorry if I said something weird.

Sinon: Wait, which game did you guys meet him in.

Sonic: Huh?

Sinon: Oh, sorry. I shouldn't ask that question. We should head to the dome or we won't have time to focus our minds or inspect our equipment.

Kirito: Ok.

They all head down the elevator to the tournament area.

Sonic: You feeling alright Kirito?

Kirito: Yeah. I'm fine now.

Sinon: Hey, just letting you know, I'm gonna pay you back for what you did yesterday. Pretending to be a girl. If you let someone else kill you, I won't forgive you.

Kirito: Then I'll survive until I see you.

Sinon: Great.

They arrive at B20 of the governor's office and MMO Stream comes on.

Host: To all the battle junkies who love the smell of oil and gun smoke, are you ready? The deadline for your bets is almost over. Now it's time to see who is the toughest player in the hardest VRMMO, GGO! MMO Stream will be showing live footage of the battle! Time for the countdown.

Everyone: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!

Host: It's time for the Bullet of Bullets!

Everybody starts cheering as the tournament begins and the fireworks go out in the SBC Glocken. All the players start fighting each other. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Mighty, and Ray all meet up with each other.

Sonic: Ok guys. Let's go and look for Death Gun.

Everyone: Right!

Meanwhile, Sinon snipes a player, shooting his grenades and blowing him up. She makes a move and checks the satellite scan.

Sinon: 21 players are still alive. Looks like Dyne is being chased by Pale Rider. Richie is looking to hit anyone who stands close to him so he won't move. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Mighty, and Ray are all together. I wonder if Kirito's still alive. Actually, I don't even care about what happens to that jerk. I should best deal with Dyne and Pale Rider first.

When the scan finishes, she runs over to the bridge to take care of Dyne and Pale Rider. Dyne is running from him.

Dyne: Darn! What's with that guy?

He comes across the bridge. He runs through and gets his assault rifle ready.

Dyne: Alright, come on out! I'll fill you up with holes!

Sinon is behind him on a hill, getting ready to snipe him.

Sinon: You should always check your six, Dyne. Huh?!

Someone comes from behind him and she takes out her handgun.

Sinon: Who's there?!

Kirito: Shhh! I have a plan.

Sinon: There are no plans or compromises. One of us dies!

Kirito: Please listen, I don't think they'll notice us.

Sinon: What are you talking about?

Kirito: I want to see the battle on the bridge until the end.

Sinon: What are you gonna do when it ends?

Kirito: I don't know. That depends on what I see, but I'll leave this area. I won't attack you.

Sinon: But I might shoot you from behind.

Kirito: That's fine but please, it's about to start.

Sinon: Are you gonna fight me for real if we start over?

Kirito: Yeah.

Sinon: Fine.

Kirito looks at the bridge with his binoculars.

Sinon: You should be a bit more cautious.

She puts her gun away and looks at the bridge with her sniper scope.

Sinon: If he moves, I'll shoot him first.

Kirito: That's fine. Wait.

They look and see a player wearing white camo, and a mask and carrying a rifle with one hand. The player is Pale Rider.

Dyne: What?

Dyne shoots Pale Rider but he dodges the bullets and jumps up the bridge.

Sinon: He has amazing reflexes. He limited the weight he carries to boost his 3D movement ability. His acrobatic skill is really high too.

Pale Rider continues to dodge bullets until Dyne reloads.

Dyne: Darn it!

Pale Rider charges at Dyne and shoots him.

Dyne: Oh great.

When Dyne gets on his knees after being shot twice, Pale Rider finishes him off with one last head shot.

Sinon: If he had the time to reload, he should have shot from the hip.

Kirito: I don't think that Pale guy was the one who wore the cape.

Sinon: I'm gonna shoot him.

Kirito: Ok.

As Sinon was getting ready, Pale Rider gets hit with a paralysis dart.

Sinon: What just happened? He's not dead so why isn't he moving?

Kirito: It looked like he was shot from the forest.

Sinon: I think it was further from that. I looked from the end of the map but nobody was within a kilometer. Wait Kirito, where did you come from.

Kirito: I followed Pale Rider. Oh, come to think of it, I was swimming in the river during the scan. I was underwater the whole time so I think the satellite couldn't find me.

Sinon: But how with all that equipment?

Kirito: I unequipped all my items and put them in storage.

Sinon: Then if you were at the bottom of the river, the satellite couldn't pick you up. I'll remember that.

Kirito: His avatar has some strange light effect.

Sinon: It's a stun dart.

Kirito looks and see's a man in a cloak with red eyes. It was Death Gun.

Kirito: How long has he been there?

Sinon notices the rifle he's carrying.

Sinon: Silent Assassin?

Kirito: That's the name of the rifle he's wielding?

Sinon: It's a high-level sniper rifle that comes equipped with a silencer. I've heard rumors about it in GGO, but it's the first time I've seen one.

Death Gun takes out his handgun and gets ready to finish off Pale Rider.

Sinon: He's gonna finish him with a handgun?

Kirito: Sinon, shoot him!

Sinon: Which one?

Kirito: The one in the cape! Shoot him now! Don't let him fire that gun!


	9. Death Gun Strikes Again

Asuna, Yui, Leafa, Lisbeth, Silica, and Klein all watch the BoB livestream in ALO.

Leafa: I don't see Kazuto anywhere.

Silica: They're streaming all of the action over there, right? I expected Kirito so show up right now.

Klein: Maybe not. He could be camping out somewhere until more people get picked off.

Asuna: Maybe so. But I doubt he'll go that far. Isn't that right Yui?

Yui: Yeah. I think Daddy is ambushing everyone from behind really fast. We won't be able to see him!

Lisbeth: That could be possible, but he's running around with a sword in a world with guns.

Leafa: That seems like his style. Wonder where Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are.

They switch to the camera and see them running together along with Mighty and Ray.

Lisbeth: There they are. Oh, and Mighty and Ray are with them too.

Klein: Let me tell you, those five are perfect for each other.

Asuna: I know.

Lisbeth: Oh, that one guy right there is good.

Asuna: Huh? You mean the guy in the camo suit with a mask?

They look at Pale Rider shooting Dyne.

Silica: He's great.

Leafa: Those are some great acrobatic skills.

Lisbeth: He's gotta be one of the favorites to win.

They see Pale Rider getting hit by a stun dart.

Klein: Looks like your boy is out Liz.

Lisbeth: Shut up. He's not out of the woods yet.

They take a view of the stun dart on Pale Rider.

Silica: What's that?

Yui: It looks like a paralysis attack. Most likely temporary.

Leafa: It's like he was hit with Thunder Web.

Suddenly, they see a black cloak in view.

Asuna: Huh?

They look and see Death Gun.

Asuna: Who is that?

Inside the GGO.

Kirito: Sinon, shoot the guy in the cloak! Don't let him fire that gun!

Sinon: Ok.

Sinon aims her sniper rifle at Death Gun's head and shoots. He suddenly dodges.

Sinon: What?

Death Gun looks up at Sinon for a brief moment.

Sinon: He knew I was here? He probably spotted me earlier.

Death Gun prepares to fire his handgun at Pale Rider, but suddenly he was stopped by a blue spindash.

Sinon: Huh?

Kirito: Is that Sonic?

Sonic: Ok Death Gun, this ends now!

Death Gun: Darn it. And I was so close to killing him.

Knuckles charges in and punches him.

Kirito: Sinon, shoot Pale Rider.

Sinon: Are you sure.

Kirito: Just do it. That guy in the cloak can't kill him.

Sinon: Ok.

Sinon shoots Pale Rider dead, and Death Gun jumps back and turns invisible.

Tails: Huh? Where is he?

Death Gun: The name and the gun I share is Death Gun. Someday, I will appear before you all as well, and with this, I will soon have you meet your end. For I possess the power. Remember that. It's not over yet. Nothing has ended. It's showtime.

Back in ALO, Silica clings to Leafa.

Leafa: It's ok Silica.

Asuna: I've met that guy before, but where? It had to have been Aincrad.

Klein drops his glass.

Lisbeth: Woah, jeez Klein, you really have to scare us like that?

Klein: That guy, you've gotta be kidding me.

Asuna: Do you know who he is?

Klein: No, I don't remember. But there's no doubt about it. That guy is from Laughing Coffin. I saw the symbol on his wrist earlier just before Sonic charged in.

Asuna: Laughing Coffin?! Was he the leader, the knife wielder?

Klein: No, he's not like PoH. The way he talks and acts is completely different. But those words he said, it's showtime, was similar to what PoH said. If he said that, he was probably high up in the chain of command.

Asuna: Kirito, Sonic, what's going on?

Back in GGO...

Kirito: That was close. There's no doubt about it. That's Death Gun.

Sinon: Death Gun? Isn't he the guy from those rumors about people getting shot in game and somehow dying IRL?

Kirito: Yes, that's him. He knows a way to kill players for real.

Sinon: You've gotta be kidding me.

Kirito: There were already two victims.

Sinon: He just had stealth camo earlier. Where did he go?

Sinon looks at her watch and gets ready for the next satellite scan.

Sinon: You keep watch on the bridge, I'll use this to find out Death Gun's name.

Kirito: Got it.

Sonic and the others show up.

Sonic: Hey guys, you alright?

Kirito: We're fine, that was really close.

Tails: Good thing we made it in time to stop Death Gun from making that kill.

Kirito: Yeah.

Sinon: I don't see Death Gun on here. He got away that quickly? Guys, this is our chance.

Kirito: Chance for what?

Sinon: He probably dove into the river like you did. Which means all of his gear should be unequipped now.

Tails: But wouldn't he at least keep a handgun while moving underwater?

Sinon: I don't think one handgun is enough.

Kirito: He almost killed Pale Rider! Getting shot once by him could mean real death!

Sinon: I really don't want to believe that someone was killed IRL from getting shot in game.

Mighty: That guy in the cloak killed so much people in the VRMMO we used to play.

Kirito: And he swung his blade at his targets so that they would die.

Sinon: So there's really a guy like that in GGO?

Sinon thinks about her past as her heart rate goes up.

Kirito: Sinon?

Ray: Sinon, you ok?

Sonic: Sinon!

Sinon: Huh?! Oh, I'm fine. I was just a little surprised. But I can't say that I believe you guys completely, but you guys seem like you're honest.

Kirito: Thanks.

Tails: I think we should get out of here now. Some players will thing that all of us are fighting and might catch us off guard.

Kirito: Then how about we all split up here?

Sinon: What are you guys gonna do?

Sonic: Me, Tails, Knuckles, and Kirito will go after Death Gun. Mighty, Ray, you guys stay with Sinon and make sure that Death Gun doesn't get her.

Mighty: Got it.

Kirito: I'll keep my promise. Next time we meet, no holding back. Thanks for hearing me out earlier and not shooting me.

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Kirito start running.

Sinon: Wait!

Ray: Sinon?

They go after Sonic and the others.

Sinon: Guys!

Kirito: Huh?

Sonic: What's up, Sinon?

Sinon: Let us come with you.

Kirito: But Death Gun is really powerful. If you lose to him, we won't be able to fight.

Sinon: It's probably safer for all of us to stay together until we stop him.

Tails: Sinon's right. We don't even know where he could be right now, so either way it's still dangerous whether we're together or not.

Kirito: Ok, you can come.

Sinon: Thanks.

Knuckles: Look out!

Kirito turns on his photon sword. A player known as Kakouton starts shooting his assault rifle and Kirito starts deflecting bullets.

Ray: Woah.

Tails: I know, he's incredible.

Kakouton: No way!

He reloads his gun.

Kirito: First things first. I'll deflect his bullets. Sinon, back me up.

Sinon: Ok.

Kakouton continues to shoot Kirito as he deflects the bullets.

Kirito: Now, Sinon!

Sinon: Ok.

Sinon shoots Kakouton with her Hecate and he dies.

Kakouton: No way!

Knuckles: Kirito, that was incredible!

Mighty: You were great!

Kirito: Come on, let's get going.

Tails: That reminded me of Star Wars!

Sonic: Yeah.

They head down by the bridge.

Kirito: So Death Gun probably headed north along the river. We have to stop him before there are anymore victims. What do you think of this, Sinon?

Sinon: Even if he has some strange power, Death Gun is still a sniper. So he'll try to avoid some open spaces that provide little cover. From what I think, he probably went over to the city ruins over there.

Sonic: Ok, then let's get going!

Sonic and Tails start running over there.

Sinon: Ok.

Back in ALO, Lisbeth, Silica, Leafa, and Yui looked really scared.

Klein: Back in SAO, there was an untold rule to never completely bring down someone's HP. Losing your HP for real would mean real life death, after all. Even if it's like that, Laughing Coffin killed hundreds of players. In the end, the assault team made their move. We've gathered a large force to capture them, but...

He tells them the story of the ambush.

Leafa: So Kazuto also ended up fighting?

Klein: Yeah, it was an awful battle.

Leafa: He has been acting really strange since last night. He's probably planning to wrap up loose ends.

Lisbeth: Wait, wasn't it just a part-time job?

Asuna: Guys, I'm going to log out for a bit. I'm gonna try to contact Kirito's employer.

Silica: His employer?

Asuna: He was the one who had Kirito, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles get into GGO, so he must know something. And Yui, could you look up information about GGO while I'm out?

Yui: Ok Mommy.

Asuna: I'll be right back everyone.

Asuna logs out. Back in GGO, Sonic and the others arrive at the ruins.

Sinon: Where could he be? Did we pass him a while ago?

Kirito: No, we couldn't have. I have been keeping an eye on the water the whole time and didn't see him.

Sonic: He's probably hiding in the city. There's a dead end right here in the river.

Kirito: We should be able to find him when the next scan comes and stop him before he shoots anyone else.

Tails: There's still one problem. Death Gun isn't his actual character name. Sinon, you said there were three BoB first-timers that you didn't recognize, right? Pale Rider isn't him, which just leaves Musketeer X and Sterben.

Mighty: We can't hesitate if both of them are here.

Sinon: I just noticed this but if you flip the characters in Musketeer's name, you can spell Death Gun. The X could symbolize the cross gesture he made earlier just before he was gonna shoot Pale Rider. But wouldn't that be too obvious?

Kirito: I would say that character names are as simple as that. Mine is based on my real name. What about yours?

Sinon: Same you have. And I can see that you five have used your real names as your avatars.

Sonic: Oh, yeah.

Tails: Well, Tails is actually a nickname that people call me in the real world. Anyway, how about we go after Musketeer X first.

Kirito: If we get hit by that dart, don't let it affect your sniping.

Sinon: Huh?

Kirito: Death Gun will definitely come out and finish us with his handgun, so be sure to shoot him.

Sinon: I could shoot you instead.

Kirito: But I know you wouldn't shoot us like that. I'm counting on you partner.

They all walk ahead and Sinon holds her sniper rifle a little bit.

Sinon: This is just a one time deal, got it Kirito?

They hide behind a flipped car and the satellite scan begins.

Sinon: You guys start checking from the north.

They tap the locations of each player until they see Musketeer X at the stadium.

Sonic: That must be him.

Sinon: Is the only one in the city Musketeer X?

Kirito: I don't see Sterben around, which means that Musketeer X is Death Gun. He's probably after Ricoco.

Mighty: We gotta stop him before he gets Ricoco.

Kirito: Do your best to cover is, ok?

Sinon: Ok. Off to the stadium.

They all head over to the stadium where Musketeer X is at.

Sinon activates her zoom vision on her eyes and notices a tip of a gun.

Sinon: Found him. He's over there.

Knuckles: He's probably still waiting for Ricoco.

Kirito: Me, Sonic, Knuckles, and Mighty will attack from behind. Tails, Ray you two stay here. Sinon, get into a sniping position on a building beside the stadium.

Tails: Can't we come with you?

Kirito: We'll have nothing to fear if you guys come with us. That's how partners are, right? After we split up, we'll engage him for 30 seconds.

Sinon: Ok.

Sonic: Here we go.

Sonic, Knuckles, Mighty, and Kirito head to the stadium.

Sinon: Let's go guys.

Ray: Ok.

Tails: Alright.

Sinon, Tails, and Ray head over to the cinema's.

Sinon: Once we kill Death Gun, we'll be enemies again. I'll shoot Kirito, and forget about him. Maybe never see him again.

Suddenly, Sinon gets hit by a stun dart.

Tails: Sinon!

Sinon: What? I thought that Death Gun is at the stadium.

Ray: Are you alright Sinon?

Suddenly, Death Gun appears out of nowhere.

Ray: It's Death Gun!

Tails: Don't make another move!

Death Gun: Kirito, Sonic, I'll confirm if you are both impostors, right her and right now. Especially you Kirito, even now the image of your furious rampage burns my eyes. I can witness that after I kill this woman.

Ray: Do you think we can take him on alone?

Tails: I don't know.

Sinon: He wants to kill me?

Death Gun: Now Kirito, show me your bloodthirsty rage. The chaos from your blade. Show it to me again.

Sinon tries to reach for her handgun, but then Death Gun takes out his handgun and Sinon recognizes it.

Sinon: A type 54 Black Star?

She remembers it being the gun she used to kill the man from the post office when she was younger.

Sinon: How? Why? Why here and now?

Tails: Sinon, are you alright?

Death Gun aims his gun at Sinon and Tails and Ray get ready to fight him. Sinon's heart rate goes up really quick.

Sinon: AHHHHHHH!


	10. The Chase

Death Gun prepares to pull the trigger on Sinon, and then Tails and Ray block him. When he's about to shoot them, a gunshot from somewhere else hits Death Gun.

Tails: Huh?

Death Gun runs behind a pillar and takes out his Silent Assassin sniper rifle and shoots it at whoever shot him. Then a smoke grenade blows up and Kirito picks up Sinon.

Sonic: Guys, we gotta go now!

Kirito: Hang on, Sinon.

Sinon: Kirito?

Tails: Ok!

They head for the rent a buggy house.

Sinon: Kirito, don't use the horse. It's fast but it's really hard to handle.

Kirito: Ok.

Kirito lays Sinon down on the bike and he rents it, and then drives away. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Mighty, and Ray run really fast.

Mighty: He's coming this way!

Sonic: I'll take care of him!

Sonic unleashes his spin attack at Death Gun's horse and it blows up as soon as he jumps off.

Kirito: Good job Sonic!

Sinon: How can they be so strong like this? Maybe they are just fighting for what they believe in. They are giving it all they got. They choose to fight with everything they have instead of making excuses to themselves. That's how they are strong.

Everybody arrives at the desert.

Tails: Hmm, where do we hide at?

Sinon: There's probably a cave over there. The satellite scan won't detect us.

Kirito: Ok, let's go.

They head over to the cave.

Kirito: Let's stay here for now and avoid the next scan.

Knuckles: I can't believe he just appeared right by you guys. Guess that cloak can make him invisible.

Tails: I wonder if that's how he avoided the satellite scan.

Sinon: I think so. That ability is called Metamaterial Optical Camo. I think we'll be fine over here. With all the course sand, we'll be able to hear his footsteps. So he won't be able to get the jump on us again.

Kirito: Then we'd better keep an ear out for them.

Tails: Hey guys, do you think that Death Gun died in that explosion?

Kirito: He didn't. I saw him jump off the robot horse before Sonic hit him. I don't think he got away unscathed but it shouldn't have been fatal.

Sinon: I see.

Sonic: Oh, and it turns out that Musketeer X isn't Death Gun. Turns out it's a girl.

Kirito: It seems like her name is read in English even though it's written in Japanese. After we beat her, we saw what happened and we quickly saved you three. I picked up Musketeer's rifle and smoke grenade and quickly shot Death Gun.

Mighty: So I guess that Sterben is Death Gun.

Ray: He's the only suspect left.

Sinon: If only I was more careful...

Knuckles: Hey, do you really have to keep going on about it?

Kirito: If I was taking your place, you would be the one to save me, right?

Sinon: I'm being consoled by my own rival. He knows that I've lost my strength and confidence, and he's cheering me up like a child.

Kirito: Well, we'll be off then. We'll leave you here with Mighty and Ray, just in case Death Gun shows up. Normally you would have to log out but you can't do that during the tournament.

Sinon: You guys are gonna take on Death Gun?

Sonic: To be honest I think I can beat him since I'm faster.

Kirito: Next time he points that gun at me, I'll have to run. We can't let you come with us, Sinon.

Sinon: Does he frighten you guys?

Sonic: Not me.

Tails: I can handle him.

Knuckles: I'm strong enough to take on even him.

Mighty: So am I.

Ray: Me too.

Kirito: Well, he actually does frighten me. The old me would probably have been able to fight with a staring death in the face. But right now, there are so many things that I have to protect. I can't die. I can't afford to.

Sonic: There are things we have to protect too. In the real and virtual world.

Sinon: Things to protect? Then why don't you guys stay here in this cave? It's impossible to log out normally in the tournament, so if there is one other player here, we could commit suicide and make that person the winner.

Mighty: That's one option, but we can't accept that. We still have to fight. I'm actually one that hates violence. I'm talking about real violence. If we leave the tournament, there's no telling how many players he will kill.

Sinon: I see. In that case, I'm going to fight too.

Kirito: You can't! If you get shot by him, you could really die.

Sinon: I don't care if I die. Back there, I was scared out of my mind. I was afraid of dying. I've become weaker than I was five years ago. So I'd rather die than continue living like that.

Kirito: Afraid of dying?

Sinon: I hate this. I'm sick of living in fear. So I'm alright on my own. I can fight by myself.

She stands up and starts walking away, but Kirito grabs her hand.

Kirito: So you're gonna fight and die alone?

Sinon: Yes. That's probably how it's been for me the whole time. Now let me go.

Sonic: It's not good to handle things on your own you know.

Kirito: When you die, part of you lives with those you've touched. You live within us too.

Sinon: I've never bonded with anyone like that before.

Kirito: But you're still part of us.

Sinon begins to cry.

Sinon: Then protect me for the rest of your lives! You guys don't know anything about me, so don't run your mouth like that! This is my fight, nobody elses! Even if I lose, nobody has the right to criticize me for it!

Tails: Sinon, calm down!

Sinon: These hands that I have, they are the hands of a murderer!

She continues to sob on Kirito, he tries to hug her but she slaps his hand away.

Sinon: Kirito, I hate you so much! I hate your guts so much! I'd rather have Sonic and his friends protect me than you!

A while later after Sinon stops crying.

Mighty: Are you feeling alright now?

Sinon: Yeah. So Kirito, I may hate you, but let me lay my head on you for a moment.

She lays her head on his lap.

Sonic: Sinon, what even happened to you?

Sinon: You guys are gonna be shocked when you hear this. I've killed someone before. Five years ago, someone tried to rob a post office in a small town in Tohoku. The news said that the robber died of accidental discharge of his gun. The truth is, I took the robbers gun from him, and I shot him to death. I was eleven at that time, and since then, every time I see a gun, I would panic so much. Seeing a gun would make me remember the face of the man I killed, and it's still frightening. But in this world, it's different for me. I thought that if I could become the strongest in this world, I'll become stronger in the real world too. I'll be able to leave that memory behind. But when Death Gun aimed that gun at me, the same gun I used to kill that man, I panicked so much and changed back to the real me. I am afraid of dying but to be honest, I'm just afraid of living in fear. If I keep running from both Death Gun and that memory without a fight, then I'll become weaker than I was before. So I...

Kirito: I understand how you feel. I've killed someone too.

Sinon: You do?

Kirito: As I said before, I know Death Gun from another game.

Sonic: I think I know him too. The game was Sword Art Online.

Sinon: Sword Art Online, the death game? That means you guys are...

Tails: We're survivors, and so is Death Gun. He was a red player in the murder guild, Laughing Coffin.

Sinon: What happened at that time?

Kirito: One day, a large party from the assault team was gathered to take them in and put them into custody. We were part of it.

Sonic: I remember that. When we were almost there, they ambushed us.

Mighty: That was because the plan was leaked, so they had the jump on us.

Knuckles: It was an awful battle.

Kirito: In that battle, I've killed two Laughing Coffin members with my sword. I forced myself to forget what I've done, until yesterday when I met Death Gun.

Sinon: So Death Gun was one of the players in Laughing Coffin you guys fought that one day?

Tails: There's no doubt he was one of the survivors in that battle that was sent to prison.

Kirito: That's why I have to settle the score with him here in this world.

Sonic: We gotta stop him before he kills more players.


	11. Death Gun's Secret

Sinon: So Death Gun was a member of Laughing Coffin?

Tails: Yeah. We didn't kill any players though. We just captured some of them.

Sinon: Well Kirito, tell me how you got to overcome those memories. How did you keep them from controlling your life? And how are you so strong now?

Kirito: I didn't overcome them.

Sinon: What?

Kirito: Last night, I had a dream about those three players that I killed. I could hardly sleep. The faces of those avatars, and those words. I will never be able to forget them.

Sinon: But then, what do I do?

Kirito: Sinon, I think that it's necessary. I had to accept what killing them meant, and to keep thinking. Doing that is less atonement that I can do.

Sinon: Accept, and keep thinking?

A while later, Death Gun shows up in the desert to look for more players, while Sonic and the others are still in the cave.

Sinon: So that Death Gun is a real person, right?

Tails: If we would find out their name in SAO, we would be able to know their true name and where they live. That's why we came in GGO.

Sinon: So he came back to SAO so he could PK again.

Sonic: Well, when he killed XeXeeD and Lightly Salted Roe, and when he almost killed Pale Rider, he chose times when a lot of people were watching.

Mighty: And that cross sign that he made was probably to try to appeal to a large mass of people, and to show people that he has the ability to kill people from a game.

Sinon: How is that possible?

Kirito: They said that XeXeeD and Roe didn't die from brain damage, but heart failure.

Sinon: Heart failure?

Kirito: I'm not sure how he's doing it?

Knuckles: I don't think there's a way to stop a players heart from in a game.

Kirito: Come to think of it, it's really strange. Why did Death Gun shoot me with his rifle back there instead of his handgun? He could have killed me if he used his handgun.

Tails: Wait a minute, I almost forgot. Earlier today we have figured something out about how Death Gun is doing this stuff.

Kirito: You have?

Sinon: Then how is he doing it?

Tails: You guys are right. It is impossible to stop a players heart in the real world by shooting them in game. So what we think is that Death Gun had to make some preparations in the real world to kill someone by shooting them in game.

Kirito: I was thinking about that as well.

Sinon: But how would he find the players real info and address?

Sonic: The Governor's office at the Glocken, it has us put our real names and addresses in the terminal.

Kirito: So it's a wide-open space with no privacy.

Sinon: Wait, you guys think that he was looking over our shoulders? If that was the case, wouldn't we have noticed?

Knuckles: What if he tried using a scope or binoculars?

Sinon: He would get banned for that.

Kirito: But what if Death Gun's cape has worked in town? He would have been able to look over our shoulders to see our info.

Sinon: Maybe so.

Tails: It's not just that guys, Death Gun has a partner!

Sinon: Partner?

Sonic: There are two Death Guns, one of them plays the avatar and shoots them in game, while the other one is out in the real world in the target's room, and then kills the player. But how does he do it?

Sinon: Even if you knew the player's real address, you would still need a key to get in.

Kirito: Well, XeXeeD and Roe both lived in old apartment buildings. They probably had security locks which were older ones with bad security.

Ray: Yeah, and their target in GGO is unconscious. So even if they had trouble opening it, they wouldn't even notice.

Sinon: But you guys said it was heart failure, right? Would you be able to stop someone's heart in a way that's undetectable by police and doctors?

Tails: Maybe they are using some sort of drug.

Sinon: But wouldn't they have been found from the pin brick of injection?

Kirito: Their bodies weren't found until a few days, so they were badly decomposed. It's not unheard of for hardcore VRMMO players to die of heart attacks after not sleeping or eating.

Sinon: Why would Death Gun do all of that?

Mighty: Obviously, he wants to stay as a red player.

Kirito: And part of me still remembers being a swordsman.

Sinon: I think I understand. Part of me considers to be a sniper. Then I guess the other Death Gun in the real world is also...

Sonic: Another Laughing Coffin member, maybe.

Tails: But he still has to check the time that's closely aligned with his real world partner, or else he wouldn't be able to make the kill.

Kirito: Maybe that cross gesture is to secretly check his wristwatch.

Sinon: I see.

Kirito: Sinon, do you live alone?

Sinon: Uh, yeah. My door is locked though. I have an old electric lock. Wait, the chain, I might have forgot to lock the chain.

Mighty: Sinon, don't panic. When he was firing at us from his robot horse, he was aiming at you, which means that the preparations are complete.

Sinon: Preparations for what?

Kirito: Right now, the other Death Gun is in your room, watching a video of the tournament, and ready for you to get shot. It's possible that he's there.

Sinon: My room?

Sinon imagines herself asleep in the real world, and the Death Gun's partner being right by her bed, ready to inject the drug. She starts to panic.

Sinon: No, no! No!

She gets a warning on her display of increased heart rate.

Tails: Sinon, calm down! If you log out now, you'll be in danger!

Kirito holds onto Sinon.

Kirito: It's ok, just calm down. The intruder can't do anything to you until Death Gun shoots you. That's the rule they have for themselves. But if you log out now and see his face, you'll be in danger. Just calm down.

Sinon: But, I'm scared!

Meanwhile in ALO, while everyone is watching the livestream, Chrysheight, A.K.A, Kikuoka shows up.

Chrysheight: Hey everyone.

Lisbeth: You're late!

Chrysheight: I came here at top speed from the save point. If ALO had speed limits, they would have taken my license.

Asuna stands up and walks to Chrysheight.

Asuna: What's going on?

Chrysheight: Umm, it might take a while to explain the whole thing. I don't even know where to start.

Asuna: You better not try to talk your way out of it!

Yui: I can explain. On November 9th, a player called Death Gun fired his gun onto a monitor in GGO. And on that same day in the Nakano Ward apartment, a player using an AmuSphere has died of unnatural causes.

Chrysheight: Wow, I'm impressed, you gathered all that information so quickly. Have you ever thought of a career in the virtual division?

Asuna looks at Chrysheight with an angry look.

Chrysheight: I'm kidding, jeez! The little one's right. All of it is true.

Klein: Hey, Chrysheight, you are the one who hired Kirito, right? You knew about those murders and had Kirito convert his avatar anyway?

Chrysheight: Hold on a second Klein. They aren't murders. The AmuSphere can't even hurt a hair on you head no matter what you do, and it also certainly can't stop a players heart either. Last week, I was talking with Kirito about it, and he brought Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles with him, and we ultimately reached that conclusion. A bullet in a video game can't kill a body in the real world.

Leafa: Then why did you ask them to go into GGO? You knew something... no, you know something. That Death Gun player has some terrifying secret, doesn't he?

Asuna: Listen, Death Gun is an SAO survivor like we are. He was a member of the murder guild, Laughing Coffin.

Chrysheight: Is that true?

Asuna: Yes, but I can't seem to remember his name. But me, Kirito, Klein, and Team Sonic were all part of the fight against them.

Lisbeth: Hey Asuna, does Chrysheight know about SAO? You said in the real world that he has some kind of government employee who does some kind of network stuff. And he's playing ALO as part of his research in VRMMO's.

Chrysheight: That's right, but I used to have another job. I was part of the SAO Incident Task Force. Not that we would be able to respond in any real way.

Asuna: Chrysheight, wouldn't you be able to find Death Gun's real name and address? If you have a list of the surviving Laughing Coffin members, could you check with their service providers so see if they're playing GGO right now?

Chrysheight: That's impossible. Just knowing that they are a former member of Laughing Coffin wouldn't tell us their real name and address.

Silica: Then why don't we ask the games owners?

Chrysheight: GGO is run by a company overseas. It might take a while for them to get a message and respond.

Leafa: I'm sure that my brother is their to learn their true name right now. When he came back home yesterday, he looked really scared. I think that he noticed during yesterday's qualifiers that someone from Laughing Coffin was playing GGO, and that they might try to kill again. So he went to finish things with them with Sonic's help so they could find out who they are and make them stop killing players.

Klein: At least Sonic is with him. Same goes for Tails, Knuckles, Mighty, and Ray.

Silica: They wouldn't even involve us in something so dangerous.

Lisbeth: That's just the kind of people they are. Maybe they have someone they are protecting who is actually supposed to be their enemy.

Asuna: Chrysheight, do you know where Kirito is diving from?

Chrysheight: Yeah, I guess.

Asuna stomps her foot as she walks over to him.

Chrysheight: Uh, yes I do. He's safe. The security is perfect along with the monitoring. There is someone right next to him right now so his body is in no real danger.

Asuna: Where is he?

Chrysheight: He's at an Ochanomizu hospital, in Chiyoda Ward.

Asuna: A hospital in Chiyoda? That's the one he went for rehabilitation. I'm heading over there now.

Back in GGO in the cave...

Sinon: What should we do?

Sonic: We're gonna fight Death Gun. Then his partner will get away and not be able to do anything.

Kirito: Even without his Black Star, he's pretty good.

Ray: Didn't he dodge a shot from your Hecate at a hundred meters?

Sinon: He did. I don't think we will be able to stay in this cave for long. If we do, the other players will know we're here. At any second we could be attacked by a grenade.

Knuckles: Then we better move.

Sinon: Guys, let's all fight to the end together.

Kirito: But if he shoots you with that handgun...

Sinon: That thing is an obsolete single-action. You can still deflect its bullets with your sword even if he shoots at me, right? And Mighty can also deflect them with his shell, and Sonic can outrun him.

Sonic: She's right.

Kirito: Then I won't let him hit you. But it might be better if he didn't see you.

Tails: He's right, and since you're a sniper, you would best fire from long range.

Knuckles: We'll show up on the map and draw out Death Gun during the next satellite scan.

Mighty: He's probably gonna hide far away and shoot us with his Silent Assassin.

Kirito: We'll use his shot to find his location and you shoot him.

Sinon: You guys are gonna be decoy's?

Kirito: Yes.

Sinon: Ok then. Just be sure you guys don't get killed from the first shot.

Sonic: We'll try, but his rifle doesn't make any sound, and you can't see the bullet line on the first shot.

Sinon: Who was the one who said you would predict the prediction lines?

Kirito: Umm, besides that Sinon...

They look up and see a live stream camera.

Sonic: What is that?

Tails: It's a live stream camera.

Sinon: Oh crud, I should have payed more attention. It normally focuses on battles, but there aren't many players left. So it came here to see us. Don't worry, it won't pick up voices unless you yell.

Knuckles: HEY THERE! WE'RE DOING BULLET OF BULLETS AND KNUCKLES! DOES ANYONE KNOW THE WAY?!

Sonic: Really Knuckles?

Knuckles: What?

Sinon: Hey Kirito, how about you wave hi. Unless there is someone you don't want seeing this?

Kirito: Uh, well... What about you? I think that most people will assume me and you are women.

Sinon: That's fine. I don't care. If a rumor goes around saying I'm into that, then fewer people would go after me.

Mighty: This is one interesting conversation.

Tails: I know.

Kirito: When this is over, I'm deleting this avatar.

Sinon: Don't forget, the first thing you did was pretend to be a girl to make me...

The camera disappears.

Sinon: Oh, it's gone. Anyway it's almost time. The next scan is gonna show up in two minutes. You guys go outside to check.

Kirito: Come to think of it...

Sinon: What is it now? There's no time to change plan.

Kirito: It's not that. I was thinking that in the end, Death Gun's true name, or maybe his actual character name is Sterben.

Knuckles: I wonder what that means?

Kirito: We'll ask when we get close to him.

Sonic: Well, time to head out.

Sinon: Be careful guys.

They all look back at her and show a thumbs up, and then they leave. Sinon smiles when they do that.

Sinon: They are all too cool.


	12. Final Battle Part 1

Kirito opens up his satellite scan to look for Death Gun.

Tails: Besides us there's only six remaining, including Sinon and Death Gun which they aren't showing up on the scan.

Two people close to each other on the scan both show dead.

Kirito: They took each other out? Guess that makes four now. There were thirty at the start.

Tails: There's just a few left on the scan.

Ray: Do you think that Death Gun already took someone else out?

Sonic: I don't think so. His partner should be waiting at Sinon's place.

They head back into the cave.

Sinon: How does it look out there?

Kirito: Right now there are ten of us left. There's us, Yamikaze, Death Gun, who doesn't show up on scan, and another guy who might be hiding in a cave like we are.

Sinon: It's already been an hour and forty-five minutes. The last tournament ended in two hours, so now the pacing is pretty much the same. I'm surprised that nobody has thrown a grenade at us yet.

Sonic: Guess when that Death Gun guy is wandering around looking for us, he was probably sniping other players with his rifle.

Sinon: If that's the case, the max kills reward will no doubt be his. But right now, Yamikaze is a big threat. You guys were able to show up on his terminal. He's probably coming here now.

Tails: Is Yamikaze really that powerful?

Sinon: He was the runner-up in the last BoB. He runs a massive AGI build and is known to be the Run and Gun Demon. It's a combat style where you run, shoot, and run again. He uses a Calico M900A, an ultra-lightweight SMG. Last time, XeXeeD's rare armor and gun allowed him to to edge him out first, but some people say that Yamikaze is superior in terms of skill.

Kirito: So you're saying that he might be the strongest player on the Japanese GGO server?

Sonic: He sounds like he's really fast too.

Sinon: Not as fast as you. If that's the case, it would mean that I'm the only one Death Gun can kill right now, right? His partner would have to be near my home right now. That would mean that there's no risk of Yamikaze being murdered by Death Gun.

Kirito: I would feel bad about this, but can we use him as a decoy? If we do that, then would it reveal Death Gun's location?

Sinon: Depending on how you look at it, I would be doing the same thing, if anything.

Ray: You know Sinon, you're really strong.

Sinon: Well, not really. I'm just not trying to think about it. After all, I've always tried to ignore the scary thoughts in the real world. How does that plan sound?

Sonic: That should work.

Kirito: There's one thing that bothers me though. We have counted all of the participants that are dead and alive. There are some that are missing.

Sinon: You mean that Death Gun could have killed someone else? That's impossible, shouldn't his partner be targeting me?

Tails: That would be it, but something feels off. It has been thirty minutes since Death Gun almost shot Pale Rider, which means his home is about thirty minutes away from yours.

Sinon: That seems a bit unlikely. But could that be the only possibility?

Knuckles: You think Death Gun has more than one partner?

Tails: If there are more of his accomplices, then it's possible for other players to be murdered, even if one is near you.

Sonic: So Death Gun is also targeting Yamikaze?

Kirito: That could be it.

Sinon: So you're saying that more people could be in on this horrific crime?

Mighty: At least ten Laughing Coffin members have survived SAO. It's not like all of them are involved.

Kirito: Besides that, there's no proof that he only has one accomplice yet.

Sinon: Just what on earth is driving them so far into killing players again?! They all survived the death game, so why?!

Sonic: Maybe for the same reason. We live as heroes, Kirito lives as a swordsman, and you live as a sniper.

Sinon: I take it back on calling them PKer's. People in this game also PK too. I was in a PK squadron, but there's pride and resolve involved in those PKs. Killing people while they are unconscious during a full-dive game isn't known as PKing. It's murder, a cowardly crime. That's why we can't lose to such monster.

Sonic: You're right Sinon. Death Gun is going down!

Mighty: We're gonna stop him in this world, and bring him and his partner into justice.

Kirito: That's right. This is my duty right now. This will be the first step to atone for the two that I killed in the madness from that one night, and for the other one I killed soon after. We will protect Sinon and defeat both Yamikaze and Death Gun.

Sinon: I'll handle Yamikaze, you guys focus on Death Gun. If you guys support me as my spotter, I'll be able to take out both Yamikaze and Death Gun.

Tails: Great idea Sinon.

Sonic: They're probably close now. We'll head out first. You leave after us and find somewhere to snipe from.

Sinon: I'm counting on you, friends. Good luck you guys. You'll always be our shining hope.

They give a thumbs up and leave. Sinon heads up a tower to find her sniping position. She turns on her scope and see's Kirito, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Mighty, and Ray.

Sinon: Yamikaze is coming from the west. If so, then Death Gun should shoot from the east. A shot to the heart or the head is a guaranteed kill. He will be sniping while invisible though. If Kirito was the one who would cut my bullet, he would dodge it. Sonic can dodge any bullet, even mine. I have to take out Yamikaze, otherwise either they will be killed or they will take him out. I'm sure that Death Gun will follow. My life is on the line on this one shot. Just like back from that fateful day. Hecate, please lend strength to my weak self. Give me the power to stand and walk forward once more!

Kirito closes his eyes to search for Yamikaze and Death Gun.

Kirito: Yamikaze is in the southwest.

Mighty: Sinon should handle him.

Sinon gets Yamikaze in her sights.

Sinon: He's fast. What should I do? Predict his path and shoot where he'll be, or miss a shot near his feet and take him out when he panics? No, Yamikaze should stop once Kirito is in his sights. I'll take him out at that moment.

Kirito: I gotta concentrate and feel his blood lust just like from back then. I wonder who the name of the guy who first attacked me was.

?: Kirito, I'll kill you later.

He opens his eyes.

Kirito: Huh?

Sonic: Do you know where he is?

A bullet comes at Kirito and he dodges it as it goes through his hair.

Kirito: Over there!

The bullet hits a tower and it collapses, making Yamikaze stop running. Kirito takes out his sword and he deflects the bullets that come at him. They all run really fast, going after Death Gun. Meanwhile, Sinon shoots Yamikaze dead.

Sinon: Sonic! Kirito!

Sinon looks at them through her scope. She finds Death Gun.

Sinon: Got him!

She aims her sniper rifle at him. He see's the bullet line and aims his sniper rifle at her. They shoot their weapons. Death Gun's bullet hits Sinon's scope, while her bullet destroys the Silent Assassin.

Sinon: It's all up to you guys now.

Sonic: Here we go!

Kirito uses Vorpal Strike at Death Gun but he dodges and unsheathes an estoc and stabs Kirito's shoulder. Meanwhile in the real world, Asuna heads up an elevator in the hospital where Kirito is at, and Yui is on the phone.

Yui: It's ok Mommy. Daddy won't lose. He never loses no matter how strong his enemy is!

Asuna: You're right Yui. I know it.

When the elevator opens up, she runs over.

Yui: Turn left at the corner and he'll be eight meters ahead.

She opens the door to Kazuto's room.

Aki: Kazuto?

Kazuto breathes heavily and sweats.

Asuna: Kirito!

Aki: Asuna, right? I have heard about what happened.

Asuna: Is Kazuto alright?

Aki: It's ok. He's not in any physical danger, but his heart rate has shot up.

Asuna: His heart rate? What on earth is going on?

Yui: Mommy, look at the screen on the wall. I'll bring MMO Stream's live footage to it.

The monitor comes on showing Kirito, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Mighty, Ray, and Death Gun.

Asuna: It's Kirito. Sonic and the others are with him.

Aki: So that's his avatar being shown?

Asuna: Yeah, he's in combat right now. That's why his heart rate has gone up.

Asuna looks at the weapon Death Gun is wielding.

Asuna: Is that an estoc? That's him. One of Laughing Coffin's leaders was a master estoc user! But what was his name?

She looks at Death Gun's name.

Asuna: Sterben?

Aki: It's a German phrase. It's also used in medical terminology. It means death. It's used when a hospital patient passes away.

Back into the game...

Kirito: I never knew that metal swords existed in GGO.

Sonic: I always thought it was lightsabers.

Death Gun: It's not like you to be so uninformed, Black Swordsman, maybe you too, fastest thing alive. You can craft them using the Gun/Sword Maker skill. It's as heavy and long as it can be.

Kirito: I guess I wouldn't be able to make one for my liking.

Sonic: We don't even use weapons.

Death Gun: I know that. Say Kirito, you still prefer swords with high stats, don't you? Then that flashlight must be a disappointment.

Kirito: It's not all bad. I've always wanted to be a Jedi anyway. A sword is a sword after all. Besides, you're outnumbered.

Death Gun: You're that confident. The old you would be very disappointed about that Vorpal Strike you just pulled off.

Mighty: Same goes for you. Or do you still consider to be a member of Laughing Coffin?

Death Gun: Oh, so you guys still remember? I'm sure that you will all remember the difference between me and Kirito. I'm a real red player, but you aren't. Kirito, you were driven by fear and killed just to survive. You're a coward who tried to forget everything.

Sonic: Kirito is not like any of you murderers! He just killed to protect others! We know your secret about how you're still killing players now!

Tails: It's not that black gun you're using!

Death Gun: Then what was it?

Kirito: You used that invisibility cloak to look at the addresses of BoB entrants at the Governor's office in the Glocken! Your accomplices have broken into the victims homes and injected them with a drug the moment you shot them to stage freak deaths with heart failure!

Mighty: It's true though! The MIC has data on every SAO player's character name and real name. Once we find out your old name, as well as your real name and address, you're going to the slammer!

Knuckles: So give up now! You better log out and turn yourself in!

Death Gun: You are all quite smart, but it's not enough. You guys still won't be able to stop me because you all don't remember my old name.

Kirito: How can you be so sure about that?

Death Gun: Don't you remember? After that battle, I tried to give you my name, but...

Flashback from after the battle in SAO...

Kirito: Don't try to give me your name. I don't want or have a reason to hear it. I'm never gonna see you again, after all.

Back in the present...

Death Gun: You never knew my name, because you didn't want to remember. You will all be defeated here, and lie on the ground helplessly but watch as I kill the girl!

Sonic: It's not gonna be that easy!

Sonic spindashes at Death Gun, knocking him back. Death Gun charges at Kirito and stabs him.

Death Gun: That metal I used to make this is the best one in the game. It is armor plating from a space battleship.

Mighty: It's still not enough to stop us!

Death Gun uses Star Splash at Kirito, but Mighty stops his attack using his Hammer Drop. The last fight begins.


	13. Final Battle Part 2

Death Gun attacks Kirito with Star Splash, but Sonic uses his spin attack, knocking him back and Knuckles punches him. Meanwhile, Sinon activates her search skill and see's everyone fighting.

Sinon: If only my scope worked.

Sinon thinks about what Kirito and the others said in the cave.

Sinon: Kirito is using his words and turning them into action. Sonic and his friends are doing the same thing, by stopping Death Gun, who was a murderer from SAO. Kirito doesn't do it because he's strong, he does it so he can accept his weakness, and Sonic does it so he can protect others. I have to do something, but what should I do?

Meanwhile, back in Kazuto's hospital room in the real world...

Asuna: Kirito...

Suddenly, a warning comes up saying that Kazuto's pulse is 160 bpm.

Aki: If he's sweating this much, he could be at a risk of dehydration. Should we at least have him logged out temporarily?

Asuna: Kirito can't hear us from inside the game no matter what we say, and if the AmuSphere senses any danger, it will automatically log him off.

Aki: Alright then. I'll watch a little more.

Yui: Mommy, take Daddy's hand. If you do, he'll feel the warmth of your hand. My hands can't touch him where you are at, so can you please touch his for me?

Asuna: That's not true dear. Your hands will also reach him.

Asuna places her phone onto Kazuto's hand.

Asuna: Let's cheer for Daddy together.

Yui: Mommy...

Asuna: Keep fighting Kirito. Fight for what you believe in. I'll always be there to watch your back and support you.

Back into the fight...

Kirito: He's right. I didn't want to know his name, because I never wanted to get involved with him! But that's impossible! I never forgot! I only pretended to forget! I was just fooling myself!

Death Gun charges at Sonic, but he kicks him out of the way.

Tails: You're not getting away with this, Death Gun!

Kirito: Wait a minute, red eyes...

Kirito gets a brief flashback during the meeting before the attack back in SAO.

Kirito: XaXa!

Death Gun: Huh?!

Kirito: Red Eyed XaXa! That's who you are!

Everyone stops attacking for a moment.

Death Gun: So you now remember.

Ray: Now we know your name.

Suddenly, a bullet line points at Death Gun.

Death Gun: Huh?!

Sinon: Kirito! Sonic!

Death Gun jumps back but everyone comes after him.

Kirito: This is it everyone! One last attack!

Death Gun starts to go invisible.

Mighty: Oh no!

Tails: He's getting away!

Sinon's bullet line aims away and then Kirito takes out his gun and shoots Death Gun. He becomes visible again. Kirito thinks of Asuna and Yui.

Kirito: This ends now!

Sonic, Tails, Mighty, and Ray use their spindash, Knuckles punches Death Gun and finally, Kirito slices Death Gun with his sword, killing him.

Sonic: It's over now.

Death Gun: No it's not. It won't end until they find out, and then...

Death Gun's red eyes turn off and he dies.

Tails: You're wrong XaXa. It's over. We know who you are now, and we're gonna find your partner.

Sonic: Laughing Coffin is gone.

Back in the hospital room again...

Asuna: Thank goodness... Kirito...

Yui: Daddy...

Everybody meets back up with Sinon.

Knuckles: Well, no more Death Gun.

Sinon: Yeah.

Tails: We need to end this tournament.

Sinon: We do.

Kirito: Since Death Gun is gone, his partner should have left your place by now. You should be safe if you log out. But it's probably best if you would call the police.

Sinon: But then what should I tell them?

Kirito: Oh yeah. Well, I have a friend from the government, so I could ask him to send the cops to your place, so we can ask him for help.

Tails: We can't ask for your real name and address here though.

Sinon: It's fine, I'll tell you guys.

She whispers to them.

Sinon: My name is Shino Asada.

She tells them her address.

Kirito: The place I'm diving from is right near you.

Sonic: We're a bit further away, but we'll make it there fast.

Sinon: Really?

Sonic: You want us to head there after we log out?

Sinon: No, I'm fine. There's a friend who lives near me that I trust.

Kirito: Well then, I'll contact my employer and have him send the cops there.

Sinon: Ok, and are you guys going to just have me reveal my personal info? What about you guys?

Kirito: Oh, my name is Kazuto Kirigaya.

Sonic: You already know who we are.

Sinon: You guys have pretty obvious names.

Kirito: Yeah, well so do you.

Sinon: Oh yeah.

They all start laughing.

Mighty: Now we need to end BoB if we're gonna log out.

Sonic: Should we all start beating each other up?

Sinon: No thanks. Let's all fight in the next BoB tournament. Now let's end this.

Knuckles: But how? Unless six of us loses our HP, there's no winner.

Sinon: They said that the first BoB had two winners.

Tails: Two? How?

Sinon: The person who was about to win let their guard down, and got hit by a present grenade.

Ray: Present grenade?

Sinon: Everyone get close together.

Everybody gets close together and Sinon activates a grenade.

Kirito: Gah!

Sonic: Oh crud!

Knuckles: Sinon, how could you?!

Sinon: Hahaha!

She hugs all of them.

Ray: This is gonna hurt.

The grenade explodes with everyone. The winner results for the Bullet of Bullets 3 comes up. The winners are Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Mighty, Ray, Kirito, and Sinon. This time there are seven winners instead of two. Everybody in GGO starts cheering. Kirito prepares to get logged out and notices the results on who died. Only Garret has gotten disconnected and killed by Death Gun.

Kirito: Death Gun should have more than one partner.

At Shino's place in the real world, she logs out, and then sneezes. She takes off her AmuSphere and looks around the house to see any signs of Death Gun's partner. There is so far no sign of him.

Shino: What am I doing? I'm so paranoid.

The doorbell rings.

Shino: Huh?

Kyouji: Hey Shino! It's me!

Shino: Kyouji, you're here!

Kyouji: I brought some snacks to congratulate you on your victory.

Shino: Great, thank you.

She let's Kyouji in and they go and sit down.

Kyouji: So umm, congrats on your tie. You were amazing out there Shino. You're finally the best sniper in GGO. I knew that you would be someday, so I figured that you would have real strength like nobody else has.

Shino: Yeah, thank you.

Kyouji: So, Shino. You told me to wait, right?

Shino: Kyouji? I did.

Kyouji: You said that if I waited, then you would someday be mine, right? So I was thinking...

Shino: What's gotten into you?

Kyouji: I want to stay with you forever. You don't have to rely on them. I'll protect you from now on, ok?

He starts hugging her.

Shino: Kyouji, what are you...?

Kyouji: I love you Shino. I love you so much. My Sinon.

Shino: Stop it!

She pushes him out of the way, making him fall over.

Kyouji: Don't you betray me, Shino.

Shino: Kyouji?

Kyouji takes out a syringe and points puts it on Shino.

Shino: Kyouji, what are you doing?

Kyouji: Don't move. Once the stuff in this syringe gets inside you, it will stop your muscles, and so will your heart and lungs.

Shino: Syringe? That means, you're the other Death Gun?

Kyouji: So you have found out Death Gun's secret. That's right, I'm one of Death Gun's partners. But until the last BoB, I was playing Sterben, but I wanted to do the job in the real world today. I can't let any other man touch you. Not even my brother.

Shino: Brother?! The person from Laughing Coffin in SAO was your brother?

Kyouji: I won't let you be alone. Don't worry.

Shino: Please, don't do this! There's still time! You're going to cram school, right? Don't you want to be a doctor?

Kyouji: Doctor? That doesn't matter anymore! My parents, and the people at school are all morons! If I was the strongest in GGO, then that would have been enough for me! But that faker XeXeeD has spread the lie about AGI builds being the strongest! GGO was everything to me! I have sacrificed everything in real life for it!

Shino: Is that why you killed him?

Kyouji: That's right. I wanted to prove that Death Gun is the strongest player in GGO. No, in all VRMMO's. I'm done with this reality. Come Shino, let's go to the next one.

Shino: Don't do it Kyouji!

Kyouji: We can both be reborn in a world like GGO, or maybe more like a fantasy one if you prefer. We can both be reborn there, be husband and wife, and live together! We can have adventures together, and even have kids! It will be so much fun, I know it! Please come with me, Shino. You're so beautiful. My darling Shino. I've always loved you since the story I heard at school about what happened to you! I am sure that you are the only girl in Japan who has killed a real bad guy with a real gun. You are truly amazing! I knew that you would have real power. That's why I chose the Type 54 Black Star as the weapon to create Death Gun. I admire you a lot. I love you more than anyone else in the world!

Shino: No! Kyouji!

She closes her eyes and dreams of herself in a crystal cave.

Shino: I don't want to see or feel anything anymore. I'm sure this isn't reality. Kirito... Sonic... Tails... Knuckles... Mighty and Ray... You guys came to save me, but it's already gone to waste. I'm sorry. If they really do come, they'll be in danger. No, they won't, they are all strong. But there's nothing I can do.

Sinon: That's not true. We've always focused on ourselves alone. We only fought for ourselves.

Shino: But...

Sinon: It might be too late now, but let's fight for someone else now, one last time.

Sinon puts her hand out and Shino takes it. Back in reality, Shino kicks Kyouji and runs to her door. Kyouji grabs her.

Shino: No!

Kyouji: Shino... Shino! Shino! SHINOOOOO!

Shino: AHHHH!


	14. Overcoming the Past

Shino: Kyouji, stop this!

Kyouji: Shino! SHINO!

Suddenly, Knuckles comes in and punches Kyouji all the way to the wall.

Knuckles: You alright Sinon?

Shino: Knuckles?

Kazuto: This guy didn't hurt you did he?

Kyouji: Stay away from Shino!

Mighty comes in and punches Kyouji all the way to the wall as he was charging at them.

Kyouji: That hurt.

Shino: Thank you guys for coming.

Mighty: All in a days work for Team SegaSonic.

Knuckles: Team SegaSonic? What the heck does that mean?!

Mighty: Oh, I just thought that it would sound cool.

Ray: I think it sounds awesome.

Kyouji: Umm, are we still fighting or not?

Shino: Let me do the honors.

Shino punches Kyouji all the way to the wall.

Kyouji: How much muscle did she build up?!

Sonic: The cops are coming right now.

Shino: Ok.

Tails: Did he hurt you?

Shino: No, but he betrayed me.

Sonic: Oh.

Kyouji: Hey listen I...

Sonic punches Kyouji all the way to the wall.

Kyouji: Really?!

The cops arrive to arrest Kyouji. The next day, at Shino's school, Endou and her friends arrive when she sits on the bench.

Shino: If you want to meet up, you could have at least not kept me waiting.

Endou's Friend 1: That's a little harsh.

Endou's Friend 2: Don't you ever learn to play nice?

Endou: It's not like it matters. We're friends, right? Now pay up. 20,000 yen will do.

Shino takes off her glasses.

Shino: I told you before, I'm not giving you any money.

Endou: Well, I have something to show you.

Shino: What is it?

Endou takes out a gun and Shino begins to panic.

Endou: My brother said I shouldn't play with guns, but you don't mind, right? Now get on your knees and say you're sorry!

Suddenly, Mighty shows up and knocks the gun out of her hands. The gun flies to Shino who catches it.

Mighty: I have a better idea. How about you leave her alone before I knock you guys out?

Endou's Friend 2: Is that Mighty the Armadillo?

Endou's Friend 1: What is he doing here?

Shino: This is a Government 1911. Most guns can't be fired if the safety is on.

She turns off the safety and aims it at a soda can. She shoots it and turns on the safety.

Endou: Umm.

Shino: Your brother is right, you shouldn't play with guns.

Shino gives the gun back to Endou.

Shino: So long.

Her and Mighty leave.

Mighty: You ok?

Shino: This is the first step. I'm fine.

Mighty: Well, Kazuto's waiting for you up front.

Shino: Ok, let's go.

They head to the front of the school and see Kazuto with his bike. A couple of girls gather around to look at him.

Shino: For crying out loud.

Student 1: Hey Shino, do you know that guy?

Student 2: Is he your boyfriend?

Mighty and Shino walk up to Kazuto.

Shino: When I asked to pick me up, I didn't expect you to pick such a conspicuous spot.

Kazuto: Hey Sinon, Mighty.

They head over to a coffee shop to meet with Kikuoka, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Ray. After the incident, the two Shinkawa brothers, Kyouji and Shouichi, got arrested, and the existence of a third criminal became evident in Shouichi's testimony. The third Death Gun, Atsushi Kanamoto, remains on the run, but Kikuoka says that it's only a matter of time before he's caught. Death Gun was born when Shouichi bought a cloak that would turn him invisible in-game with real money transaction. He used the cloak and binoculars to steal real player information. Meanwhile, Kyouji had trouble developing his character build in GGO. As an agility type, Spiegel held so much hatred for XeXeeD, who gave the idea that agility types were the strongest despite having switched to strength and vitality build himself. When hearing that, Shouichi gave XeXeeD's real info to Kyouji, and they discussed the best way to make him pay. They claimed that they weren't serious about it at first. But over days of deliberation, the plan finally came into motion, and so they have stolen a master keycard used for emergency use and they also stole a lethal drug from their father's hospital. They both used the card to reach their targets and narrowed down the people who lived alone in places with weak security. Shouichi broke into the home of XeXeeD, the first victim, using the master keycard. He murdered Shigemura at the prearranged time, waiting for Kyouji to log into his Sterben account, claim himself to be Death Gun, and shoot XeXeeD. The second victim, Lightly Salted Roe was killed the same way. Besides fearing Death Gun, GGO players considered this to be a rumor. Shouichi and Kyouji were both frustrated with the reaction, so they both plotted a scheme to murder three people during BoB. Their targets were Pale Rider, Garrett, and Sinon, but only Garrett was killed.

Kazuto: They weren't set up to kill multiple people at the same time.

Tails: I don't think that would be possible. Each accomplice would have to break into each targets home and match Death Gun's timing.

Kazuto: That's where Atsushi came in, or should I say the third Death Gun.

Kikuoka: You could say that Atsushi and Shouichi were old friends. In fact, they were members of the same murder guild in SAO. His name was Johnny Black. Ring a bell?

Knuckles: He was the poison knife wielder, right?

Kazuto: That's right, and he paired up with XaXa in Laughing Coffin.

Kikuoka: Atsushi was responsible for Garrett's death, and almost Pale Rider's, which they both happened to live nearby, while Kyouji got Sinon. Before, Shouichi was working with the drug, but then Kyouji insisted that they would switch places.

Shino: Did Kyouji tell you that?

Kikuoka: No, he remained silent the whole time. This was Shouichi's testimony.

Shino: I see.

Kikuoka: Regarding Shouichi Shinkawa, he had a weak constitution when he was young. His father lost hope in him early on, so he decided that the younger brother, Kyouji, would inherit the hospital. Besides that, the two of them seemed to have gotten along pretty well. But then, Shouichi got into MMORPGs, and he became a prisoner in Sword Art Online in 2022. When he returned, he told just Kyouji about about how he was feared as a red player in that death game. To Kyouji, his brother seemed like a hero. According to Shouichi, the Death Gun plan, including the murders, was nothing more than a game. He says it was no different from SAO, how they investigated targets, gathered equipment, and killed people.

Kazuto: Guess that would be the dark side of VRMMOs.

Sonic: Reality can be a blur after all.

Kikuoka: What do you guys think reality is to you now?

Kazuto: I think there are things I've left behind in that world. I feel that I'm lacking something as I am now.

Kikuoka: Have you thought about wanting to go back?

Kazuto: Don't ask. That's honestly in bad taste.

Shino: That's different from what you said before, Kirito. You said that there's no such thing as a virtual world, and that wherever you are is reality. The world I am in now is my only reality. Even if it was a virtual world, I still believe it would be reality.

Knuckles: Sinon's right.

Sonic: Yeah.

Ray: There's always something in any world, right?

Kazuto: That's right. What she just said might be the good takeaway for this whole incident.

Shino: Can it!

Kikuoka: I couldn't agree more. That's all the info I have. Any questions?

Shino: Well, what's going to happen to Kyouji?

Kikuoka: I believe that it's likely they will be sent to a medical reformatory. They are lacking that sense of reality, after all.

Shino: I don't think that's the case. I can't speak for his brother, but I think that Kyouji's only reality was Gun Gale Online. He gave up everything in this world and decided that GGO would be his only reality. His goal was to be the strongest player in GGO and he patiently grinded hours on end. It seems kind of stressful.

Kikuoka: He was stressed out by a game? Wouldn't that be contrary on what a game would do?

Shino: Yes. I believe that Kyouji has gotten things backwards. He mixed up both this world and that one.

Kikuoka: But why?

Shino: That's what I want to know. What do you guys think?

Kazuto: He wanted to get stronger.

Sonic: In fact, we're getting stronger every day.

Shino: So he's just like me. That could be a common trait among VRMMO players. We just want to get stronger. Mr. Kikuoka, I wish to visit him. I want to tell him all that I've been thinking about.

Kikuoka: You're a very strong young lady. You may do as you please. I'll let you know as soon as visits get open. Well, I must be going now.

Shino: Thank you.

Kikuoka: It's not a problem. I am to blame for putting your lives in danger, anyway. This is the least I could do.

Sonic: I like danger.

Kikuoka: By the way, Kirito, Sonic. Death Gun... I mean Red Eyed XaXa, or in this case Shouichi Shinkawa, asked me to give this message to you. You can refuse it if you like. What do you say?

Kazuto: Let's hear it.

Kikuoka: Alright then.

He opens the note and reads it.

Kikuoka: This is not over yet. You don't possess the power to end it. You will both be made to notice that soon enough. It's showtime. That is all.

Knuckles: There's still Johnny Black we have to find.

Sonic: Who knows how we'll find him.

They head outside and Kikuoka leaves them behind.

Kazuto: Hey Sinon, are you free right now?

Shino: There's nothing for me to do now. Why do you ask?

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Mighty, Ray, Kazuto, and Shino head over to the Dicey Cafe.

Shino: Is this where you guys wanted to take me?

Sonic: Yeah.

Tails: There's someone we want you to meet.

They open the door and see Asuna, Rika, and Andrew.

Rika: You guys are late! I've been eating two slices of apple pie while waiting for you! It's your fault if I gain weight!

Ray: Shut up Rika! Your logic stinks!

Kazuto: Anyway guys, this is Sinon, A.K.A Shino Asada, one of the third champions of the Bullet of Bullets in GGO.

Shino: So are you six.

Kazuto: Anyway, these are our two friends from SAO. That's Lisbeth, A.K.A Rika Shinozaki, the rip off blacksmith.

Rika: What was that?!

She charges at Kazuto to punch her but he dodges and she falls to the floor.

Kazuto: And that's Asuna, or Asuna Yuuki, the Lightning Flash and Berserk Healer.

Asuna: That's kind of uncalled for.

Rika: Oww that hurts.

Sonic: Let's just sit down right now.

They all sit down at a table.

Shino: So Sterben is a medical term for death, right? Why would Death Gun have that name?

Asuna: It's probably best not to go deep into the meaning of character names. There is definitely more you'll overlook than realize after all.

Rika: Says the girl who used her real name as her avatar. Same goes for you five.

Sonic: At least we're still cool.

Rika: Anyway, I'm really glad that we got to meet another female VRMMO player in real life.

Asuna: Yeah. I hope we can get along together, Shino.

Shino: Yeah, thanks.

Asuna: Oh, listen, Shino. There's another reason we wanted you to come today.

Shino: Another reason? What kind?

Kazuto: We're really sorry for this. You see, we told Asuna and Liz about what happened in your past.

Shino: What?!

Tails: We wanted to get their help.

Asuna: We actually payed a visit to the town you used to live in.

Shino: But why?! Why did you...

Shino quickly gets out of her seat to leave.

Sonic: Sinon, stop!

Mighty: Hold on! There's someone that you need to meet. She has something to say to you!

Kazuto: It might be painful but we can't just leave you like this.

Shino: Someone I have to meet? What does this person have to say?

Rika opens the back door and a woman and a little girl comes in to sit down.

Shino: Umm, who are you?

Older Woman: You are Shino Asada, right? It is nice to meet you. My name is Sachie Ooosawa. This is my daughter, Mizue. She's four.

Shino: So, what is it you need to say?

Sachie: Before she was born, I was working at a post office.

Shino: Post office? You mean the same one?

Sachie: Yes.

Sachie begins to cry.

Sachie: I'm so sorry, Shino. I should have come to thank you sooner. At the time of the incident, I was pregnant with her. So Shino, you didn't just save my life, but you saved hers too. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Shino: I saved you lives?

Kazuto: Sinon, listen. I can tell you've always been blaming yourself, as well as punish yourself. I won't say it's wrong, but at the same time, you need to think about the people you saved.

Sonic: I'm always out there saving innocent people and animals. I'm always out there stopping Robotnik and saving the world. You have to remember what happened and forgive yourself.

Mizue walks up to Shino to give her a drawing of her family and having words say thank you.

Mizue: Thank you for saving Mommy and me, Shino!

Shino starts to cry, then Mizue takes her hand in comfort and they both smile. She has finally overcome her fear of guns, thanks to the words of Sachie Oosawa.

The End.


End file.
